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THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


’ 14 


THE  TWO  LAST  SOVEREIGNS. 


FroDtispiece. 


THE 


STORY  OF  KOREA 


BY 

JOSEPH  H.  LONGFORD 

LATE  H.M.  CONSUL  AT  NAGASAKI; 
PROFESSOR  OF  JAPANESE,  KING’S 
COLLEGE,  LONDON  ; BARRISTER- 
AT-LAW,  MIDDLE  TEMPLE 

AimiOR  OF  "THE  STORY  OF  OLD  JAPAN” 


WITH  33  ILLUSTRATIONS 
AND  THREE  MAPS 


NEW  YORK  ; CHARLES  SCRIBNER’S  SONS 
LONDON;  T FISHER  UNWIN 


(All  rights  reserved.) 


PREFACE 


The  welcome  so  heartily  accorded  both  by  critics 
and  the  public  to  the  “ Story  of  Old  Japan  ” has 
tempted  the  writer  to  endeavour  to  tell,  in  the  same 
easy  and  popular  way,  the  Story  of  Korea,  a story 
scarcely  less  replete  than  that  of  Japan  with 
picturesque  and  romantic  incidents  of  war,  politics, 
and  social  life.  During  the  last  thirty  years  Korea 
has  been  the  pivot  of  all  the  politics  of  the  Far 
East.  It  has  been  the  subject  of  two  great  wars, 
as  the  result  of  which  it  has  ceased  to  exist  as  an 
independent  kingdom.  Few  people  in  England  know 
it  otherwise  than  as  a geographical  expression. 
Fewer  still  realise  the  great  addition  which  its  incor- 
poration in  the  dominions  of  the  Emperor  of  Japan 
will  make  to  the  military  and  commercial  resources 
of  his  Empire.  Its  magnificent  harbours  will  pro- 
vide new  bases,  and  its  coast  population,  which 
produced  brave  and  skilful  sailors  in  the  Middle 
Ages,  will  afford  abundant  recruits  for  his  fleet.  Its 
peasants  will  furnish  a large  contingent  to  his  armies, 
which  scientific  training,  discipline,  and  good  treat- 
ment, the  writer,  judging  from  his  own  experience 
in  Japan,  believes,  will  convert,  ere  another  generation 
has  passed  away,  into  soldiers  not  less  fearless  or 


VI 


PREFACE 


efficient  than  are  now  the  Japanese  themselves.  Its 
abundant  natural  resources,  favoured  by  a good 
climate,  by  rainfall  and  sunshine  that  are  both 
abundant,  and  by  entire  exemption  from  the  disasters 
of  floods  and  earthquakes  that  are  the  terrors  of 
Japan,  only  require  intelligent,  honest,  and  scientific 
development  to  convert  their  potentialities  into 
realities  of  industrial  and  commercial  wealth.  All 
this  will  be  given  by  Japanese  administrators,  who 
will  bring  to  Korea  the  methods  which  they  have 
already  so  successfully  exploited  in  their  own  country 
as  to  raise  it,  within  half  a century,  from  impotence 
and  indigence,  into  the  position  of  one  of  the  great 
military  and  commercial  powers  of  the  world.  Korea, 
both  in  its  own  history  and  as  a factor  in  the  future 
status  of  our  ally  and  in  the  political  balance  of  the 
Far  East,  may,  the  writer  hopes,  prove  of  sufficient 
interest  to  English  readers  to  induce  them  to  extend 
to  a volume  in  which  its  story  is  told  simply,  as  it 
has  never  been  told  before,  without  fear  or  favour, 
without  either  exaggeration  or  concealment,  no  less 
cordial  a welcome  than  they  generously  gave  to  his 
work  on  Japan. 

The  Appendix  contains  a bibliography  of  the  long 
list  of  works  which  have  been  consulted  in  the 
preparation  of  this  volume.  Part  of  the  material  is 
founded  on  or  has  been  taken  from  Ballet’s  “ Histoire 
de  I’Eglise  de  Coree,”  the  contributions  to  the 
“ Transactions  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan  ” of 
Dr.  Aston  and  Mr.  E.  H.  Parker,  the  latter,  like  Dr. 
Aston,  a profound  Oriental  scholar,  and  Mr.  Homer 
Hulbert’s  scholarly  and  complete  “ History  of 


PREFACE 


vii 

Korea,”  published  at  Seoul  in  1904,  in  two  large 
and  closely  printed  volumes,  a work  full  of  interest, 
but  one  which  demands  attentive  study  on  the  part 
of  its  readers.  Acknowledgment  is  made  in  the 
text  in  all  places  in  which  the  writer  has  used  or 
quoted  from  these  works.  He  is  also  indebted  to  the 
Rev.  John  Ross’s  very  learned  ” History  of  Korea  ” 
for  some  of  the  material  for  his  story  of  the  relations 
between  Korea  and  China  under  the  Imperial 
dynasties  of  the  Tsin,  Mongols,  and  early  Manchus. 
His  ‘‘Story  of  Modern  Korea,”  since  1870,  is 
founded  almost  entirely  on  his  own  personal  know- 
ledge of  the  events  which  are  related,  acquired  during 
his  official  career  in  Japan. 

His  best  thanks  are  due  to  his  Excellency  the 
Japanese  Ambassador,  and  to  Mr.  Sakata,  Consul- 
General  in  London,  for  some  of  the  photographs 
with  which  the  volume  is  illustrated  ; and  to  Mr. 
Sakata,  Mr.  Kishi,  Secretary  of  Embassy,  and  to  Mr. 
Y.  Komma,  Secretary  of  the  Consulate-General,  for 
their  assistance  in  elucidating  obscure  points  in 
ancient  history. 

J.  H.  L. 

King’s  College, 
yune  25,  1911. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE  . . -9 

II.  THE  SOCIAL  SYSTEM  OF  OLD  KOREA  . . 32 

III.  THE  DARK  AGES  . . . . *50 

IV.  THE  STORY  OF  THE  THREE  KINGDOMS  . . 65 

V.  EARLY  RELATIONS  WITH  lAPAN  . . .89 

VI.  UNITED  KOREA  .....  IO4 

VII.  CHOSEN — FIRST  PERIOD  ....  I23 

VIII.  HIDEYOSHl’S  INVASION — THE  FIRST  STAGE  . I39 

IX.  HIDEYOSHl’S  INVASION — THE  SECOND  STAGE  . 167 

X.  CHOSEN — SECOND  PERIOD  ....  196 

1 * 


1 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

XI.  EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  . . . 2l6 

XII.  CHRISTIANITY  TO  THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  . 242 

XIII.  CHRISTIANITY — PERSECUTION  AND  TOLERATION  . 273 

XIV.  MODERN  KOREA — 1868-84  . . . 296 

XV.  MODERN  KOREA — 1884-I905  . . . 32O 

XVI.  THE  JAPANESE  PROTECTORATE  I905-IO  , -351 

XVII.  TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY  ....  366 
BIBLIOGRAPHY  .....  385 

INDEX  ......  389 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE  TWO  LAST  SOVEREIGNS  . . . Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

VIEWS  IN  PHYONG  AN  . . . . . l8 

SEOUL.  OUTSIDE  THE  CITY  WALL  . . . .22 

THE  ARCH  OF  INDEPENDENCE  . . . .26 

YANGBAN.  AN  ARCHERY  MEETING  . . -34 

YANGBANS  AT  HOME — A GAME  OF  CHESS  . . • 38 

A yangban’s  sedan  chair  . . . -42 

A yangban’s  residence — ENTRANCE  . . .48 

VILLAGE  NEAR  PHYONG  AN  , . . -72 

TOMB  OF  A SILLAN  KING  AT  KYUN  JU  . . .86 

VIEW  OF  SEOUL,  LOOKING  TOWARDS  THE  SOUTHERN 

MOUNTAIN  . . . . . .126 

3 


4 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


LETTER  IN  ON-MUN — FACSIMILE 
BUDDHIST  MONASTERY  AND  MONKS 
SEOUL — PALACE  GATEWAY  . 

PHYONG  AN — THE  RIVER  TATONG  . 
BUDDHIST  TEMPLES  AT  KYUN  JU  . 

PASS  ON  THE  PEKING  ROAD 

TOMB  NEAR  SEOUL  . . . . 

AUDIENCE-HALL  IN  THE  PALACE  . 

SEOUL — TEMPLE  OF  HEAVEN 
STREET  IN  OLD  SEOUL 
A COURT  OF  lUSTICE 

A VILLAGE  SCHOOL  . . . . 

MARBLE  PAGODA  IN  SEOUL  . 

ROAD  OUTSIDE  SEOUL 

SEOUL — THE  SOUTH  GATE  OF  THE  CITY  , 


FACING  PAGE 

. 132 

• 134 

• 158 

. 162 
. 188 
. 206 
. 212 
. 222 
. 250 
. 264 
. 282 
. 292 
. 298 

• 306 

• 314 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  5 

FACING  PAGE 

KIM  OK  KIUN  ...  ...  328 

VIEW  OF  MODERN  SEOUL  .....  334 

OLD  PALACE — THE  ROYAL  DWELLING  . . . 34O 

MAIN  STREET  IN  MODERN  SEOUL  ....  352 

THE  GENERAL  HOSPITAL  IN  SEOUL  . . . 356 

SPADE  WORK  ......  368 

WINNOWING  ......  372 


MAPS 

THE  THREE  HAN  . . . . . . 6l 

THE  THREE  KINGDOMS  . . . . -67 

KOREA  . . . . .at  end  of  volume 


NOTE 


The  Chinese  ideographs  on  the  cover  are  those  which,  in  Japanese,  are 
read  as  “ Keirin  Hachido  Monogatari,”  or  the  “ Story  of  the  Eight  Circuits 
of  Keirin  ” (Korea).  An  explanation  of  the  term  Keirin  is  given  on  page  345. 
The  design  on  the  front  of  the  cover  represents  the  National  flag  of 
Korea,  which,  totally  unlike  as  it  was  to  that  of  Japan,  was  founded  on  the 
same  order  of  ideas.  The  figure  in  its  centre  represents  the  Yang  and  Yin, 
in  Chinese  philosophy  the  male  and  female  principles  of  Nature — the  perfect 
and  the  imperfect — from  which  the  universe  takes  its  origin.  The  groups 
of  whole  and  broken  lines  in  the  four  comers  are  four  of  the  eight  Kwa 
or  trigrams,  devised  by  Fu-hsi,  Emperor  of  China,  who  lived  thirty-three 
centuries  before  Christ.  He  got  the  idea  from  the  marks  on  the  back  of  a 
‘‘dragon  horse”  which  came  out  of  the  Yellow  River.  The  trigrams 
exhibit  the  operations  of  Nature,  and  classify  the  qualities  of  all  things  in 
heaven  and  earth,  and  were  used  throughout  the  later  ages  in  divination. 
They  were  interpreted  in  the  Yih  King — the  Book  of  Changes — the  most 
ancient  surviving  book  of  China,  compiled,  from  the  rudiments  bequeathed 
by  Fu-hsi,  towards  the  close  of  the  Yen  dynasty  in  1122  b.c,,  the 
period  at  which  Ki  Tse  founded  Chosen.  The  four  on  the  cover 
are  (i)  ' ■■  (three  whole  lines)  Yang,  the  male  principle, 

Heaven  or  the  Sky  ; (2)  ' -■  (three  broken  lines)  Yin,  the 

female  principle,  the  Earth  ; (3)  - (two  whole  lines  with 

a broken  one  between  them)  Fire,  the  Sun,  emblematic  of  the  Yang  ; 
(4)  ' ~ (two  broken  lines  with  a whole  one  between  them) 

Water,  as  in  Rain,  Clouds,  Springs,  or  Streams,  emblematic  of  the  Yin. 
The  four  also  represent  the  points  of  the  compass  in  the  order  in  which 
they  have  been  given — South,  North,  East,  West.  A full  translation  of 
the  Yih  King  by  Dr.  Legge  is  included  in  the  “ Sacred  Books  of  the  East,’’ 
vol.  xvi.,  edited  by  Professor  Max  Muller,  and  the  similarity  of  the  origin 
of  the  Japanese  and  Korean  flags  was  first  pointed  out  by  Dr.  Aston  in  his 
essay  on  ‘‘The  National  Flag  of  Japan,”  “Transactions  of  the  Asiatic 
Society  of  Japan,”  vol.  xxii. 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE 

The  kingdom  of  Korea,  which  possessed  an  authentic 
history  extending  over  three  thousand  years  and 
traditional  legends  dating  from  a period  more  than 
a thousand  years  prior  to  the  dawn  of  its  history, 
lay  in  the  peninsula  which  extends  southwards  into 
the  Sea  of  Japan  from  the  north-eastern  boundaries 
of  the  Chinese  Empire  and  is  fringed  on  its  southern 
and  western  sides  by  numerous  islands.  Its  existence 
first  became  known  in  Europe  through  the  Arab 
geographer  Khordadbeh,  who,  in  the  ninth  century 
of  our  era,  described  it  in  his  book  of  roads  and 
provinces,  quoted  in  Baron  Richtofen’s  great  work 
on  China,  as  “ an  unknown  land  beyond  the  frontiers 
of  Kantu  ” — the  modem  Shantung — “ rich  in  gold, 
and  exporting  ginseng,  camphor,  aloes,  and  deerhom, 
and  such  manufactured  products  as  nails,  saddles, 
porcelain,  and  satin.”  ‘‘  Mussulmans,”  he  said, 
“ who  visited  it  were  often  so  attracted  by  it  that 
they  were  induced  to  settle  there.”  It  was  visited  in 
the  sixteenth  century  by  one  of  the  Jesuit  priests 
from  the  mission  in  Japan,  who  was  permitted  to  act 
as  chaplain  to  the  Christian  soldiers  who  formed  a 
large  contingent  of  Hideyoshi’s  invading  armies  in 


10 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


the  closing  decade  of  the  century  ; but  the  earliest 
European  description  of  it  which  now  survives  was 
furnished  by  Hendrik  Hamel,  a Dutch  seaman,  who 
was  shipwrecked  in  the  year  1653  on  the  Island  of 
(^uelpart,  when  on  a voyage  from  Texel  to  Japan,  in 
the  service  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company.  A 
translation  of  his  graphic  description  of  the  country 
and  people  and  of  his  own  romantic  experiences  and 
sufferings  is  contained  in  the  seventh  volume  of 
Pinkerton’s  “ Voyages.”  Hamel  and  thirty-five  of 
his  shipmates,  out  of  a total  complement  of  sixty-four, 
were  saved  from  the  wreck,  and  they  remained  in  the 
country  for  over  thirteen  years,  when  Hamel  and 
seven  other  survivors  succeeded  in  making  their 
escape  to  Japan,  from  which  in  due  course  they 
returned  to  their  native  land. 

Late  in  the  eighteenth  and  early  in  the  nineteenth 
centuries  the  Korean  coasts  were  visited  by  British, 
French,  and  Russian  vessels  of  war  when  on  voyages 
of  exploration  in  the  Pacific,  and  the  commanders 
have  left  memorials  of  their  discoveries  in  the 
geographical  names  that  still  distinguish  the  islands 
and  bays  in  our  charts  and  maps.  None  of  the 
explorers  ever  ventured  to  leave  the  coasts.  None 
ever  slept  outside  their  own  ships.  In  all  the  long 
interval  that  passed  between  Hamel’s  escape  and 
Captain  Broughton’s  memorable  voyage  in  1797 
Korea  was  left  unregarded  in  its  national  isolation 
by  Europeans,  whether  sailors,  travellers,  traders,  or 
missionaries  ; and  it  was  not  until  the  nineteenth 
century  was  well  advanced  into  the  years  of  its  middle 
age  that  missionaries  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
who  never  knew  fear  when  in  the  service  of  their 
Master,  stole  through  the  barriers  within  which  the 
Koreans  secluded  themselves  from  all  the  world,  and 
were  able  to  penetrate  into  the  interior  and  to 
describe,  with  the  skill  and  accuracy  of  scholars  and 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE  11 


scientists,  the  history,  manners,  and  customs  of  a 
country  and  people  of  whom  our  only  previous  direct 
knowledge  was  founded  on  the  writings  of  an  humble 
Dutch  sailor  and  the  fragmentary  notice  of  an  ancient 
Arab  geographer. 

The  peninsula  extends  from  43°  02'  to  33°  12' 
north  latitude  and  from  124°  18'  to  130°  54'  east 
longitude.  Its  extreme  width  in  its  widest  part,  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Yalu  to  that  of  the  Tumen,  is  over 
350  miles,  but  this  narrows  in  the  latitude  of  the 
capital  to  120  miles.  Its  length  is  about  500  miles, 
and  its  total  coast-line  is  said  to  be  over  1,700 
miles.  Its  total  area  is  estimated  as  84,000  square 
miles,  or,  roughly,  about  that  of  Great  Britain  and 
half  that  of  Japan.  It  is  bounded  on  the  north  by 
the  Russian  Asiatic  province  of  Primorsk,  with 
which  it  is  coterminous  for  1 1 miles  from  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  by  Manchuria,  its  confines  being  delimi- 
tated by  the  River  Tumen,  flowing  into  the  Pacific 
on  the  east,  by  the  River  Yalu,  flowing  into  the 
Yellow  Sea  on  the  west,  and  between  the  two  by  the 
lofty  Shan  Yan  Range  or  Ever  .White  Mountains,  in 
which  are  the  sources  of  both  rivers.  On  the  east  it 
has  the  Sea  of  Japan,  and  on  the  west  the  Yellow 
Sea.  On  the  south  it  is  separated  from  Kiusiu  by  the 
Straits  of  Korea,  in  which,  midway  between  the 
Korean  and  Japanese  coasts,  lies  the  Japanese  island 
of  Tsushima,  from  which  Korea  is  visible  on  clear 
days.  The  number  of  Korean  islands  exceeds  two 
hundred.  One  small,  solitary  island,  Dagelet  Island 
— so  named  by  the  French  navigator  La  Perouse,  who 
discovered  it,  in  honour  of  the  great  French 
astronomer — lies  in  the  Japan  Sea,  as  lonely  as  St. 
Helena  in  the  Great  Ocean,  45  miles  off  the 
east  coast,  but  with  that  exception  all  the  islands 
are  on  the  southern  or  western  coasts  of  the  penin- 
sula. The  majority  of  these  are  inhabited,  cultivated 


12 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


or  well  wooded,  but  some  are  bare  volcanic  rocks, 
rising  with  picturesque  precipitousness  out  of  the 
sea  to  a height  of  from  i,ooo  to  2,000  feet.  The 
largest  and  most  important  among  them  is  Quelpart 
— more  correctly  Quelpaert — the  scene  of  Hamel’s 
shipwreck,  and  in  more  recent  days  of  that  of  H.M.S. 
Bedford,  a well-cultivated  island,  40  miles  in  length 
by  17  in  breadth,  with  a resident  population  of 
100,000  souls,  lying  about  60  miles  from  the  south- 
west comer  of  the  mainland.  Thirty-six  miles  to 
the  east  of  Quelpart  is  the  Nan  Hau  Group  of  three 
islands,  which  were  occupied  by  Great  Britain  in 
the  years  1884-6,  when  Russian  aggression  menaced 
the  integrity  of  Korea,  and  Japan  had  not  yet  won 
her  spurs  as  a great  military  Power.  The  pic- 
turesqueness of  the  seascapes  throughout  the  whole 
length  of  the  western  coast  is  increased  by  number- 
less islets  or  rocks  that  rise  boldly  out  of  the  deep 
waters  of  the  sea,  whose  cliffs  and  fir-clad  peaks  are 
the  joy  of  lovers  of  the  grand  in  Nature,  but  whose 
presence  is  a source  of  anxiety  to  the  navigator  when, 
as  is  often  the  case,  they  are  shrouded  in  the  dense 
summer  fogs  of  the  Yellow  Sea.  So  thickly  do 
islands  and  islets  cluster  together  along  the  entire 
western  shore  of  the  peninsula  that  it  is  only  at  rare 
intervals  the  mainland  can  be  seen  at  all  from  the 
deck  of  the  passing  sea-going  steamer. 

On  the  east,  the  long  coast,  from  the  Russian 
frontier  to  the  south-east  corner,  where  the  harbour 
of  Fusan  fronts  Tsushima  and  Kiusiu,  is,  mth  the 
one  exception  already  mentioned,  destitute  of  islands, 
and  its  line  is  broken  only  by  what  is  called 
Broughton  Bay,  after  the  great  British  navigator, 
with  its  two  harbours  of  Gensan  and  Port  Lazareff. 
On  the  south  coast  are  the  capacious,  deep,  and  well- 
sheltered  harbours  of  Fusan  and  Masampo,  each 
capable  of  affording  safe  anchorage  for  a fleet  of  the 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE  13 


largest  warships  of  the  present  day,  the  possession  of 
which  is  therefore  a most  valuable  asset  to  a Power 
that  aspires  to  the  naval  hegemony  of  the  Pacific. 
On  the  west  coast  there  are  many  harbours,  and  also 
anchorages  amid  and  under  the  shelter  of  the  islands, 
but  both  their  naval  and  commercial  importance  is 
discounted  by  the  tides,  which  rise  and  fall,  with 
great  rapidity  and  violence,  from  25  to  30  feet.  On 
the  east  and  south  coasts  the  rise  and  fall  are  only 
a few  feet.  Quelpart  has  no  harbour,  but  the 
Nan  Hau  Group  enclose  a deep  and  well-sheltered 
harbour,  which  could  hold  all  the  fleets  on  the  Pacific, 
though  they  would  have  a poor  time  if  seeking  refuge 
from  the  guns  of  a blockading  enemy.  Both  east  and 
west  coasts  are  bold  and  hilly,  the  east  mountainous, 
only  a narrow  strip  of  cultivated  plains  separating 
the  shore  from  the  chain  of  lofty  mountains  which, 
after  starting  from  the  sacred  Paik-Tu  peak  of  the 
Ever  White  Range  in  the  extreme  north  and  passing 
through  the  centre  of  the  north-eastern  province  of 
Ham  Gyong,  reaches  the  east  coast  about  the  fortieth 
parallel  of  latitude  and  then  extends  in  a continuous 
line  to  the  extreme  south,  here  and  there  on  its  way 
throwing  out  spurs  that  wind  towards  the  western 
coast.  Among  these  spurs,  nearly  midway  between 
the  extreme  north  and  south,  are  the  Diamond  Moun- 
tains, so  called  by  the  Koreans  themselves,  from  the 
resemblance  of  their  “ twelve  thousand  serrated 
peaks  ” to  rough  diamonds,  the  site  of  the  great 
historic  Buddhist  monasteries  of  Korea,  and  famous, 
not  only  in  Korea  but  in  China  and  Japan',  for  the 
sublime  grandeur  of  their  scenery. 

All  Korea  is  mountainous,  not  so  much  so  as  is 
Japan,  but  still  so  broken  that  there  is  only  one — 
perhaps  two  may  be  admitted — extensRe  plain,  and 
the  whole  surface  of  the  country  was  compared  by 
the  French  missionaries  to  the  sea  in  a heavy  gale. 


14 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


The  mountains  in  the  north  are  thickly  wooded  and 
their  deep  valleys  and  gorges  afford  scenes  of  impres- 
sive beauty  ; but  those  along  the  coast  are  mostly 
bare,  their  surface  covered  with  coarse  bamboo-grass, 
the  monotony  of  which  is  only  varied  by  scattered 
groves  of  stunted  firs  that  rarely  attain  to  a height 
of  more  than  four  to  five  feet.  The  “ land  of  treeless 
mountains  ” is  a common  epithet  for  Korea  among 
Japanese.  At  a distance  the  coasts  are  not  unlike 
the  Sussex  Downs,  though  they  rise  to  a greater 
height  from  the  sea-level,  but  it  is  only  distance  that 
gives  them  this  enchantment,  the  coarse  grass  which 
covers  them  being  woefully  different  to  the  soft  turf 
of  the  Downs. 

Every  mountain  gorge  and  valley  is  watered  by 
its  own  stream,  that  rushes  over  a shallow,  pebbly 
bed  ; but,  as  could  not  be  otherwise  in  so  narrow 
a country,  large  rivers  are  few,  and  both  their  swift- 
ness and  shallowness  render  them  unsuitable  for  pur- 
poses of  transport.  The  Yalu  (called  by  the  Koreans, 
from  the  vividness  of  its  colour  after  the  melting 
of  the  snow  and  ice,  the  Am  Nok  or  Green  Duck) 
and  the  Tumen  in  the  north  have  been  already  men- 
tioned. Others,  flowing  into  the  Yellow  Sea,  are  the 
Tat  on  g,  which  flows  through  a great  part  of  the 
north-western  province  of  Phyong  An,  and,  passing 
the  old  historical  capital  of  the  province,  enters  the 
sea  at  Chinampo  about  the  thirty-ninth  parallel,  and 
the  Han,  which,  rising  in  the  eastern  province  of  Kang- 
,Won  and  entering  the  sea  at  Chemulpo  on  the  western 
coast,  divides  the  entire  peninsula  into  two  almost 
equal  portions.  On  it  lies  the  capital  Seoul.  All 
these  rivers  receive  many  tributaries,  and  all  are 
navigable  for  small  craft  for  some  distance  from 
their  mouths.  The  Naktong,  which  finds  its  way 
to  the  sea  at  Fusan  in  the  south-eastern  corner  of  the 
peninsula,  after  an  almost  direct  southern  course,  is 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE  15 


the  only  river  of  importance  in  the  east,  the  proximity 
of  the  mountains  to  the  coast  preventing  those  which 
take  their  rise  on  the  eastern  slopes  attaining  any 
higher  dignity  than  that  of  streams.  There  are  no 
lakes  in  Korea  sufficiently  large  to  be  marked  on 
the  map. 

The  domestic  animals  include  horses,  asses,  mules, 
oxen,  dogs,  sheep,  goats,  and  pigs.  The  horses  are 
small,  and  long-continued  cruelty  has  rendered  them 
vicious  in  the  extreme,  but  they  possess  great 
strength.  The  want  of  roads  prevents  their  use  in 
carriages  or  carts,  and  as  the  modern  Koreans  are 
not  a nation  of  horsemen  and  prefer  the  more  humble 
donkey  for  purposes  of  travelling,  the  principal 
service  of  the  horse  is  that  of  pack-carrying.  For 
agricultural  purposes  only  the  ox  is  used.  Cattle  are 
abundant,  especially  in  the  south,  and  of  excellent 
quality,  bearing  a marked  resemblance  to  the  English 
shorthorns,  and  are  as  remarkable  for  their  tract- 
ability  as  the  horses  are  the  reverse.  The  Koreans 
are  largely  a meat-eating  people,  not  disdaining  even 
the  flesh  of  dogs,  and  ox-hides  are  an  important 
article  of  export,  furnishing  the  main  supply  for  the 
requirements  of  the  modern  tanneries  of  Japan. 

Of  the  wild  animals,  the  most  noted  is  the  tiger, 
which  exists  in  great  numbers  in  the  mountains  and 
forests  of  the  north-eastern  provinces,  but  is  found 
all  over  the  country,  tigers  having,  it  is  said,  been 
known  to  enter  into  the  very  streets  of  the  capital.' 
It  is  equally  characterised  by  its  size,  boldness,  and 
ferocity,  qualities  which  have  given  it  a prominent 
place  in  the  folklore,  proverbs,  and  customs  of  the 
people,  and  have  also,  it  may  be  added,  filled  them 

• In  the  early  days  of  tlie  Janese  settlement  at  Gensan,  a policeman 
left  his  box  one  cold  winter’s  night  to  make  his  round  in  the  settle- 
ment. On  his  return  he  found  a large  tiger,  which  had  entered  the 
box  in  his  absence,  asleep  by  the  stove. 


16 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


with  a very  well  grounded  dread.  Its  figure  was 
a favourite  device  to  be  emblazoned  on  war  banners. 
The  tiger-hunters,  who  form  a class  by  themselves, 
were  always  called  upon  to  lead  forlorn  hopes  when 
on  military  service,  as  those  whose  courage,  strength, 
and  activity  had  been  developed  in  the  best  of  schools. 
The  skins,  which  are  beautifully  marked  and,  as  is 
natural  from  the  fact  that  its  principal  home  is  among 
mountains  that  are  deeply  clad  in  snow  for  nearly  half 
the  year,  have  a much  thicker  fur  than  the  Indian 
variety,  were  highly  prized  for  decorative  purposes, 
not  only  as  rugs  but  as  military  ornaments  by  the 
Japanese,  among  whom,  ever  since  the  days  of 
Hideyoshi,  the  tiger-skin -covered  scabbard  was  one 
of  the  most  cherished  outer  marks  of  an  officer  of 
rank,  while  the  claws  were  worn  as  jewels.  The 
flesh  was  eaten  and  the  bones  were  converted  into 
a medicine  which  was  highly  prized  in  the  Chinese 
pharmacopoeia  as  a courage-producing  specific  of  in- 
fallible merit.  Tigers  were  usually  hunted  in  winter, 
when  they  floundered  helplessly  in  the  deep  snow, 
the  frozen  surface  of  which  was  strong  enough  to 
bear  the  weight  of  nimble  hunters  on  snowshoes  and 
their  dogs,  but  even  under  these  circumstances,  the 
courage  of  the  hunters  may  be  estimated  from  the 
fact  that  they  seldom  hesitated  to  attack  the  tiger 
single-handed  and  armed  only  with  an  old  flint-lock 
gun.  In  summer,  on  the  other  hand,  when  the  dense 
undergrowth  of  the  forests  placed  the  hunter  at  its 
mercy,  the  advantage  was  on  the  side  of  the  tiger,  a 
fact  which  gave  rise  to  the  Chinese  saying  that  the 
tiger  is  hunted  by  the  Koreans  during  one  half  of 
the  year  and  the  Koreans  by  the  tiger  during  the 
other  half.  Notwithstanding  the  terror  caused  by 
his  known  presence  in  their  neighbourhood,  villagers 
are  so  reckless  as  to  sleep  in  midsummer  with  wide- 
open  doors  or  even  beneath  sheds  or  in  the  open 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE  17 


fields,  where  they  fall  an  easy  prey.  The  annual 
death  roll  is  therefore  very  large.  The  other  wild 
animals  include  leopards,  bears,  deer,  boars,  and  a 
variety  of  fur-bearing  animals,  including  otters, 
martins,  squirrels,  and  sables.  Among  the  birds  are 
eagles,  hawks,  pheasants,  ducks,  swans,  geese,  herons, 
cranes,  snipe,  rooks,  storks,  and  many  others  in 
numbers  large  enough  to  render  Korea,  with  its  addi- 
tional opportunities  for  the  hunting  of  large  game, 
a paradise  for  sportsmen,  were  it  not  for  the  physical 
discomforts  of  travelling  and  lodging  in  the  mountain 
districts. 

The  seas,  especially  on  the  east  and  south  coasts, 
abound  in  fish,  though  the  variety  is  much  less  than 
on  the  coast  of  Japan.  They  have  long  been  a 
successful  fishing-ground  for  whales,  which  follow 
the  shoals  of  herrings  and  sardines  that  are  found  in 
immense  numbers.  Only  the  most  primitive  methods 
of  fishing  are  followed  by  the  Koreans,  and  it  is 
principally  Japanese  fishermen  who  reap  the  rich 
harvest  of  their  seas  on  the  east  and  Chinese  on  the 
west.  Even  in  the  days  of  national  isolation,  no  pro- 
hibition was  imposed  on  either  Chinese  or  Japanese 
against  fishing  in  Korean  waters,  the  only  limitation 
being  that  they  should  neither  land  on  Korean  soil 
nor  communicate  with  the  natives  while  on  the  sea. 
The  last  was  easily  evaded,  either  in  the  obscurity  of 
the  frequent  fogs  or  under  the  shadows  of  the  many 
islands  whose  lofty  cliffs  towered  out  of  the  sea,  and 
extensive  smuggling  was  successfully  carried  on  by 
Chinese  and  Japanese,  especially  by  the  former,  who, 
to  this  day,  may  be  counted  among  the  most  astute 
smugglers  in  the  world. 

When  King  Taijo  founded  his  dynasty  in  1392,  one 
of  his  first  measures  was  to  divide  the  peninsula 
for  administrative  purposes  into  eight  circuits  or 
provindes.  Under  the  Japanese  protectorate,  the  five 

2 


18 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


which  were  of  larger  area  were  each  separated  into 
two  independent  local  governments  retaining  their 
old  titles  with  the  addition  of  North  or  South,  but 
with  this  exception  the  provinces  have  remained  until 
this  day  exactly  as  they  were  constituted  by  Taijo, 
more  than  six  hundred  years  ago.  Their  delimitation 
testifies  to  his  skill  as  a statesman  with  a keen  eye 
to  the  economic  welfare  of  his  kingdom.  Each  pro- 
vince has  an  extensive  coast-line,  and  there  is  only 
one  in  which  there  is  not  at  least  one  fine  harbour. 
Korea’s  foreign  intercourse  in  his  day  was  entirely 
with  China,  and  five  of  the  provinces  were  therefore 
constituted  out  of  the  west  half  of  the  kingdom  which 
faced  China,  three  being  considered  sufficient  for  the 
east  half,  which,  though  of  much  greater  area  than 
the  west,  was  broken  everywhere  by  mountains  and 
its  long  coast-line  faced  the  stormy  Sea  of  Japan 
without  shelter  from  outlying  islands. 

The  names  of  the  five  provinces  on  the  west  coast, 
taking  them  in  order  from  north  to  south  are  : 
Phyong  An  (Tranquil  Peace),  Hoang-hai  (Yellow 
Sea),  Kyong-Kwi  (Capital  Boundaries),  Chhung 
Chyong  (Pure  Loyalty),  and  Cholla  (Complete 
Network)  ; and  those  of  the  provinces  on  the  east  : 
Ham  Gyong  (All  Mirror),  Kang  Won  (River  Moor), 
and  Kyong-syang  (Joyful  Honour). 

Phyong  An,  on  the  north-west,  is  the  frontier  pro- 
vince, separated  from  Manchuria  by  the  River  Yalu 
and  bounded  on  its  south  by  the  River  Tatong,  two 
of  the  largest  rivers  in  Korea.  It  has  been  through- 
out its  history  the  great  battlefield  of  Korea.  In 
ancient  days  when  it  was  part  of  the  territory  of 
Korai  it  was  the  scene  of  the  invasions  of  the  S%\d 
and  Tang  Emperors  of  China.  In  the  Middle  Ages 
it  was  again  desolated  by  the  Mongol  and  Manchu 
armies  and  the  march  of  Hideyoshi’s  soldiers  ex- 
tended as  far  as  its  capital,  Phyong  An.  In  our  own 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE  19 


days  it  was  the  scene  of  the  first  great  battle  in 
the  China-Japan  War  of  1894,  and  ten  years  later 
of  the  march  of  the  Japanese  on  their  way  to  drive 
the  Russians  from  the  Yalu.  Time  and  time  again 
it  has  been  ravaged  from  end  to  end,  its  towns  and 
villages  sacked  and  burnt.  In  1894  it  suffered 
equally  from  flying  Chinese  and  pursuing  Japanese, 
but  its  fertility  and  the  industry  of  its  inhabitants,  who 
have  inherited  some  of  the  vigour  of  their  ancestors 
of  old  Korai,  and  have  sunk  less  deeply  than  the 
inhabitants  of  the  other  provinces  under  the  blight- 
ing influence  of  mis -government,  have  enabled  it  each 
time  to  recover,  and  it  is  now  one  of  the  least  poor 
of  all  the  provinces.  Two  of  its  towns  will  be  fre- 
quently referred  to  in  subsequent  pages.  Aichiu  (now 
called  Wiju)  was  the  old  frontier  town,  near  the 
mouth  of  the  River  Yalu,  where  a strict  watch  was 
kept  for  foreign  trespassers  and  smugglers.  It  now 
promises  to  become  an  important  seat  of  trade,  the 
depot  of  the  great  timber  industry,  the  material  for 
which  is  furnished  by  the  virgin  forests  of  the  Shan 
Yan  Mountains.  The  exploiting  of  these  forests  by 
the  Russians  and  their  high-handedness  in  establish- 
ing a depot,  which  was  really  a military  outpost,  at 
Wiju,  may  be  said  to  have  been  the  spark  that  kindled 
the  flames  of  the  Russian  War  with  Japan. 

Phyong  An,  the  capital  of  the  province,  on  the 
River  Tatong,  about  fifty  miles  from  its  mouth,  was 
the  seat  which  Ki  Tse,  the  founder  of  Korea,  chose 
for  his  government  in  1122  B.C.  His  tomb  is  still  to 
be  seen,  a holy  spot  in  the  eyes  of  all  Koreans, 
and  there  are  still  traces  of  the  walls  of  the  city 
which  he  founded.  It  was  afterwards  the  capital  of 
Korai,  and  when  Korai  fell,  it  was  the  centre  from 
which  the  Chinese  prefects  directed  the  administration 
of  the  conquered  provinces.  It  was  taken  and  held  in 
1592  by  Hideyoshi’s  general,  Konishi  Yukinaga,  and 


20 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


in  1894  it  was  almost  destroyed  in  the  battle  of 
September  i 5th  between  the  Chinese  and  Japanese. 
It  is,  however,  still  the  third  city  in  Korea  in  point 
of  population  ; it  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque  in 
its  situation  on  a high  bluff  on  the  north  bank  of 
the  river  ; and  as  it  is  in  the  centre  of  a fertile  district 
that  not  only  produces  in  abundance  the  ordinary 
agricultural  staples,  including  silk  and  the  invalu- 
able ginseng,  but  has  great  prospective  treasures  of 
mineral  wealth  of  gold  and  coal  ; as  it  is  also  on  the 
great  trunk  railway  that  runs  from  Fusan  to  Seoul 
and  from  Seoul  to  Wiju  ; and  as  it  possesses  in  the 
Tatong,  which  is  navigable  for  cargo -carrying  boats 
of  light  draught  to  within  a few  miles  of  it,  a cheap 
highway  to  its  seaport  Chinampo,  it  may  develop  into 
a prosperous  commercial  city.  It  is  a great  station 
of  Nonconformist  missionary  enterprise  at  the  present 
day.  The  city  in  its  configuration  resembles  a 
Korean  boat.  A superstition  that  if  a well  was  dug 
within  its  walls  the  boat  would  sink  formerly  com- 
pelled the  inhabitants  to  obtain  their  domestic  water 
supply  from  the  river,  from  which  it  was  carried  in 
buckets,  but  under  the  Japanese  administration  the 
city  is  now  supplied  with  water-works,  constructed 
on  the  most  modern  principles  of  engineering  science. 

Hoang  Hai  lies  south  of  Phyong  An  and  directly 
facing  Shang  Tung  on  the  coast  of  China.  It  has 
no  features  that  call  for  special  remark,  its  industries 
being  entirely  fishing  and  agricultural.  It  is  one  of 
the  three  provinces  that  has  not  been  subdivided  by 
the  Japanese. 

Kyong  Kwi  is,  in  its  area,  the  smallest,  but  in 
its  wealth  the  greatest  of  all  the  provinces.  In  it 
are  Seoul,  the  modem  capital,  and  Sunto  (now 
called  Kai  Seng),  the  ancient  capital  in  the  first 
four  centuries  (9 19- 1392)  of  Korea’s  existence  as 
a united  kingdom,  and  now,  in  population,  the  second 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE  21 


city  in  the  peninsula.  Through  its  centre  runs  the 
River  Han,  the  largest  river  whose  banks  on  both 
sides  are  in  Korean  territory.  On  the  coast,  thirty 
miles  from  the  capital,  on  the  south  estuary  of  the 
Han,  is  the  open  port  of  Chemulpo,  the  chief  seat 
of  foreign  trade  at  the  present  day,  the  Yokohama 
of  Korea,  both  in  its  present  position  and  its  history. 
Like  Yokohama,  it  owes  its  rise  entirely  to  foreign 
trade.  It  was  the  first  new  port  to  be  opened 
under  the  Treaty  of  1876  with  Japan,  and  at  the  time 
of  its  opening  it  consisted  only  of  a few  miserable 
huts  of  fishermen.  There  are  now  Japanese,  Chinese, 
and  European  settlements  within  its  limits,  as  well 
as  a large  Korean  town,  and  the  annual  value  of 
the  trade  carried  on  at  it  reaches  two  and  a half 
millions  sterling. 

The  first  shot  in  the  Japan -Russian  War  was  fired 
just  outside  its  harbour,  on  February  8,  1904.  Two 
Russian  men -of -war,  the  Variag,  a swift  cruiser  of 
the  most  modern  type,  and  the  Korietz,  a gunboat, 
were  lying  in  the  harbour,  before  the  actual  declara- 
tion of  war,  when  a Japanese  fleet  of  seven  cruisers 
appeared  off  its  entrance.  The  gunboat  steamed 
out  of  the  harbour,  on  her  way  to  Port  Arthur,  but 
found  her  exit  stopped  by  the  torpedo-boats  that 
were  attached  to  the  Japanese  fleet.  She  fired  one 
gun  at  them.  It  was  said  that  the  discharge  was 
accidental,  but  whether  accidental  or  not,  it  was  the 
first  shot  that  was  fired  on  either  side  in  the  war. 
Then  she  returned  to  her  consort  in  the  harbour. 
The  Japanese  admiral  sent  a notice  to  the  Russians 
that  if  they  did  not  leave  the  harbour  they  would  be 
attacked  within  it,  and  on  the  following  day  the  two 
ships  steamed  out  to  meet  the  whole  Japanese  fleet, 
and  within  a very  few  hours  crept  back  again  to 
the  port,  battered  and  crippled  wrecks.  For  three 
hours  the  Variag  had  borne  the  concentrated  fire  of 


22 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


the  Japanese  ships  all  round  her,  firing  vigorously  in 
return,  but  the  heroic  gallantry  of  the  Russians  was 
not  supported  by  efficient  gunnery.  They  did  not 
succeed  in  even  once  hitting  any  one  of  the  seven 
great  targets  around  them.  This  fact  has,  to  the 
best  of  the  present  writer’s  knowledge,  not  hitherto 
been  told  in  any  English  history  of  the  war,  and  it 
is  his  excuse  for  introducing  the  incident  into  pages 
in  which  it  would  otherwise  have  had  no  place. 

The  capital  is  connected  with  Chemulpo  by  the 
first  railway  (26f  miles  in  length)  that  was  con- 
structed in  Korea.  The  journey  occupies  one  and  a 
half  hours,  there  being  ten  stations  on  the  way. 
It  is  a walled  city  lying  in  an  amphitheatre  of  pic- 
turesque hills,  about  two  miles  from  the  banks  of 
the  wide  and  rapidly  flowing  Han,  which  encompasses 
all  its  southern  outskirts.  Seoul,  with  its  Govern- 
ment offices,  banks,  hospitals,  railway-stations,  tram- 
ways, and  glass-fronted  shops,  is,  under  Japanese 
administration,  rapidly  following  the  example  of 
Tokio,  and  changing  in  its  outward  appearance  from 
an  Asiatic  to  a European  city.  In  its  owm  native 
form,  its  principal  features  were  its  walls  that  pro- 
tected it,  not  only  on  the  level,  but  in  their  winding 
course  climbed  all  the  steep  hills  around  it,  crossing 
the  North  and  the  “ Three  peaked  ” mountains,  at 
an  altitude  of  not  less  than  a thousand  feet  ; the  eight 
imposing  gates,  including  among  them  the  gates  of 
“ Benevolence,”  ‘‘  Justice,”  and  ” Courtesy,”  set  in 
granite  frames,  which  gave  access  through  the  walls  ; 
the  royal  palaces,  and  the  long  and  wide  high  street 
which  crossed  the  whole  city  from  east  to  west,  and 
with  its  living  stream  of  white -clothed  passers  is  one 
of  the  most  picturesque  thoroughfares  in  the  world  ; 
the  great  bronze  bell,  ten  feet  in  height  by  eight  in 
width,  the  third  largest  bell  in  the  world,  cast  in 
1396,  and  hung  in  its  present  site  in  1468,  the 


To  face  p.  aj. 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE  23 


metal  of  which  failed  to  fuse  until  a living  child 
had  been  cast  into  its  molten  mass,i  which  for  five 
centuries  tolled  the  curfew  over  the  whole  city,  the 
signal  for  the  closing  of  the  gates  and  the  withdrawal 
of  all  men  to  their  houses  ; near  it  the  eight -storied 
marble  pagoda,  erected  more  than  seven  hundred 
years  ago,  and  beautiful  both  in  its  grace  and  its 
carvings,  and  the  column  erected  by  the  Tai  Won 
Kun  in  1866,  when  in  the  flush  of  his  triumph  after 
the  repulse  of  the  French,  with  the  inscription  that 
“ whosoever  pronounces  even  the  name  of  Europeans 
is  a traitor  to  his  country.”  These  were  the  most 
striking  objects  in  the  city,  while  it  still  preserved 
its  native  aspect  unimpaired  by  the  brick -and-mortar 
creations  of  modern  civilisation.  Beyond  the  city 
walls  in  the  north  was  the  great  arch,  the  Gate  of 
Gratitude,  where  the  Chinese  Ambassador  was  on 
his  arrival  annually  welcomed  by  the  King.  The 
arch  was  destroyed  by  the  Japanese  in  1904  and 
the  arch  of  independence  soon  after  erected  in  its 
place. 

Seoul  lay  in  the  midst  of  a quadrilateral  of  fortified 
cities,  in  which  strong  garrisons  were  maintained, 
and  which  were  looked  upon  as  military  outposts  for 
the  protection  of  the  capital-Kwanju  and  Suwon 
in  the  south,  Songdo  in  the  north,  and  in  the  west 
Kang  Wha,  the  capital  town  on  the  island  of  the 
same  name  which  covers  the  estuary  of  the  River 
Han.  Kang  Wha,  both  city  and  island,  are  in  their 
historical  associations  not  inferior  to  Sunto,  not 
even  to  the  capital  itself,  and  the  island,  with  its 
mountains  broken  by  well-cultivated  valleys,  presents 
many  graceful  pictures  of  the  beauties  of  hill,  sea, 
and  valley.  The  island  was  formerly  the  sanctuary 
of  the  kings  when  their  capital  was  threatened  or 

' It  was  said  that  the  wailing  of  a child  could  always  be  detected 
in  its  notes. 


24 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


taken.  For  twenty-eight  years  in  the  thirteenth 
century  they  found  refuge  in  it  from  the  fierce 
Mongols,  and  twice  again  in  the  seventeenth  century 
the  Court  was  removed  to  it.  In  our  own  time  it 
was  attacked  and  occupied — in  each  instance  for  a 
few  days — by  the  French  and  Americans,  on  the 
occasions  of  their  ill-judged  attacks  on  Korea.  It 
was  on  the  island  that  the  first  treaty  with  Japan  was 
negotiated  and  signed  in  1876,  and  the  barriers 
broken  of  Korea’s  long  national  isolation. 

The  town  of  Kang  Wha,  which  contained  many 
national  treasures,  was,  with  a vandalism  not  inferior 
to  that  of  Hideyoshi’s  soldiers,  burnt  by  the  French 
when  they  found  it  expedient  to  retreat  to  their 
ships  before  the  gathering  Koreans.  It  is  now  the 
chief  seat  of  the  British  Episcopal  Mission  in  Korea. 

Chhung  Chyong  and  Cholla  have  both  been 
divided  by  the  Japanese  into  two  prefectures,  north 
and  south.  Both  are  fertile  and  populous,  and  large 
quantities  of  cattle  are  reared  in  Cholla.  The  names 
which  their  bays  and  the  islands  on  their  coasts  bear 
on  English  charts  are  memorials  of  the  visits  of 
early  English  and  French  navigators  ; Basil  Bay  is 
called  after  the  captain  of  the  Lyra,  Basil  Hall. 
Jerome  Bay  and  the  Prince  Imperial  Archipelago 
recall  the  ill-fated  visit  of  La  Gloire  and  La  Victoreuse 
in  1846,  and  Modeste,  Amherst,  and  Ross  Islands 
the  more  fortunate  cruises  of  British  ships.  Both 
provinces  have  several  good  harbours,  and  the 
numerous  islands  off  their  coasts  also  afford  well- 
sheltered  anchorages.  The  natives  of  both  are 
famous  among  Korean  sailors — admirals  and  the 
majority  of  officers  and  men,  in  the  fleet  which  de- 
feated the  Japanese  in  1593,  were  all  from  the  two 
provinces,  and  both  were  also  the  scenes  of  famous 
sieges  and  battles  on  land  in  the  same  war. 

Kyong  Syang  in  the  south-east  is  the  nearest 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE  25 


province  to  Japan,  and  historically  the  most  interest- 
ing of  all.  It  is  in  it  that  all  the  invading  armies 
of  Japan  have  landed  from  the  time  of  the  Empress 
Jingo  on  Vizards.  Its  towns  have  borne  many  sieges, 
and  in  them  early  Korean  civilisation  reached  its 
highest  development.  On  its  coasts  are  the  deep  and 
capacious  harbours  of  Masampo  and  Fusan  ; and  its 
plains  and  valleys,  watered  by  the  River  Naktong, 
which  flows  through  its  whole  length,  with  a genial 
climate  that  is  free  from  the  arctic  winters  of  the 
north  and  east,  are  the  most  fertile  and  populous 
in  Korea.  Fusan,  its  principal  town,  the  gateway 
through  which  all  Japanese  passed  who  entered  Korea 
prior  to  1876,  the  seat  of  the  Japanese  trading  factory 
for  six  centuries,  lies  on  a bay  that  is  protected 
from  the  sea  by  Deer  Island,  and  affords  within 
the  shelter  of  this  island  a safe  anchorage  that  would 
hold  all  the  fleets  of  the  Pacific.  It  was  “ opened  ” 
to  the  Japanese  in  1877  and  to  other  foreign  nations 
in  the  early  eighties,  and  as  a seat  of  foreign  trade  it 
is  now  second  only  to  Chemulpo.  It  is  the  southern 
terminus  of  the  Trunk  Railway.  Twice  each  day 
powerful  ferry  steamers  take  passengers  across  the 
120  miles  of  sea  that  separate  it  from  Shimono- 
seki,  the  nearest  port  in  the  main  island  of  Japan, 
and  all  the  passenger  and  mail  traffic,  not  only  to 
Korea  but  to  Manchuria  and  by  the  Siberian  Rail- 
way to  Europe,  pass  through  it.  Fifty  miles  to  the 
north  is  the  old  town  of  Kyunju,  the  capital  of  the 
ancient  kingdom  of  Silla,  once  the  home  of  everything 
that  was  greatest  and  best  in  Korean  art  and  litera- 
ture, but  which  has  never  recovered  from  the  ruthless 
spoliation  it  suffered  when  Hideyoshi’s  soldiers  sacked 
and  burnt  it  as  the  final  act  of  their  last  campaign 
in  Korea. 

Kang  Won,  the  third  of  the  provinces,  which  has 
not  been  subdivided,  is  unique  among  all  in  that 


26 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


its  long  coast-line  of  more  than  150  miles  is 
harbourless,  and  unsheltered  by  islands.  It  is 
celebrated  for  its  mountain  and  coast  scenery,  but 
falls  behind  all  others  both  in  trade  and  industry, 
and  has  no  towns  of  either  commercial  or  historic 
note.  The  sea  along  its  coast  abounds  with  fish, 
from  whales  to  sardines,  but  the  harvest  is  reaped 
almost  exclusively  by  Japanese  fishermen,  their  frail 
boats  not  permitting  the  Koreans  to  venture  more 
than  a few  miles  from  the  shore. 

Ham  Gyong  is  the  largest  of  the  provinces.  On 
its  north  it  borders  Asiatic  Russia,  from  which  it  is 
separated  by  the  River  Tumen,  and  for  the  remainder 
of  its  width  it  is  divided  from  Manchuria  by  the 
river  and  by  the  range  of  the  Ever  White  Mountains. 
The  whole  province  is  covered  with  lofty  forest-clad 
mountains,  which  extend  to  the  coast  and  present 
imposing  views  from  the  sea,  and  are  the  homes  of 
the  tiger,  the  bear,  and  the  leopard.  The  inhabitants, 
hunters  of  big  game  and  fishers,  are  the  bravest  and 
the  strongest  of  all  Koreans,  and  were  always  called 
upon  to  furnish  the  most  trusted  recruits  to  the  army 
in  the  worst  national  crises. 

Broughton  Bay,  at  its  extreme  south,  is  the  third 
great  harbour  of  Korea,  capacious,  ice -free,  and  well 
sheltered,  capable  in  all  its  natural  conditions  of  being 
converted  by  the  Japanese  into  an  important  naval 
base.  Properly  speaking,  it  consists  of  two  harbours. 
Port  Lazareff  in  the  north  of  the  bay,  and  Gensan 
in  the  south,  the  natural  advantages  of  both,  with 
their  broad  and  deep  channels  and  sheltered  anchor- 
ages, being  nearly  equal.  Gensan  was  opened  to 
Japanese  trade  in  1880  and  to  English  and  American 
in  1883.  A large  Japanese  settlement  has  been 
established  there,  but  neither  the  realities  nor  the 
prospects  of  trade  have  been  such  as  to  attract 
Europeans.  Historically  speaking,  Gensan  is  a place 


THK  ARCH  OK  INDEPENDENCE. 

(Front  Sterrograf'h  Cofyright,  ViiJcmwii  & I’ntUrvcoti,  LonJoft.) 


To  face  p.  26. 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE  27 


of  much  interest  to  Koreans.  It  was  in  its  neigh- 
bourhood that  Taijo,  the  founder  of  the  last  dynasty 
of  kings,  was  born  and  passed  his  youth,  and  a great 
monastery,  founded  and  endowed  by  himself,  on  the 
spot  where,  while  still  a youth,  he  foresaw  in  a dream 
his  future  greatness,  is  the  object  of  devoted  pilgrim- 
ages on  the  part  of  Koreans  of  all  classes. 

The  towns  which  have  been  mentioned  include  all 
that  there  are  in  Korea  with  populations  of  twenty 
thousand  people. 

In  a peninsula  which  extends  over  so  wide  an 
expanse  of  latitude  the  climate  naturally  varies.  The 
winters  in  the  two  southern  provinces  are  bright  and 
mild.  In  the  north  and  on  the  west  coast  they  are 
also  bright  and  clear,  but  the  cold  is  intense.  In 
both  north  and  south  there  are  clear,  unclouded  skies, 
and  the  dryness  of  the  atmosphere  renders  even  the 
most  severe  cold  bearable.  The  River  Han  is 
usually  frozen  for  two  or  even  three  months,  the  Yalu 
for  a longer  period,  and  the  ice  on  both  has  been 
sufficiently  strong  to  admit  of  the  crossing  of  great 
armies  with  their  baggage.  In  Ham  Gyong  the 
snow  lies  deep  throughout  the  whole  winter,  and 
all  the  mountains,  even  in  the  south,  have  snow-clad 
summits  from  autumn  to  spring.  The  autumn  and 
spring  are  both  delightful  seasons,  the  spring  genially 
warm  and  the  autumn  crisp  and  clear,  and  both  are 
beautified  by  the  flora  and  foliage,  by  the  cherry- 
trees  of  spring  and  the  maples  of  autumn,  which  are 
hardly  less  varied  and  abundant  than  those  which 
are  the  glory  of  Japan.  Only  the  summer  months 
are  trying  to  Europeans.  The  rainy  season,  extend- 
ing from  the  middle  of  June  to  the  middle  of  July,  is 
enervating  and  exhausting,  and  it  is  followed  by  two 
months  of  hot,  glaring  summer,  when  the  deep  valleys, 
encircled  by  the  scorched,  treeless  hills,  and  cut  off 
from  all  sea  breezes,  become  almost  natural  furnaces. 


28 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


Generally,  the  climate  may  be  described  as  colder  in 
winter  and  hotter  in  summer  than  are  the  same 
latitudes  in  Europe.  Europeans  have  not  found  it 
unhealthy. 

The  origin  of  the  people  who  inhabit  the  peninsula 
can  only  be  a subject  of  conjecture,  as  is  also  the 
case  in  regard  to  that  of  the  Japanese,  with  whom 
language  and  characteristics  show  that  the  Koreans 
are  closely  allied.  Two  great  immigrations  to  Japan 
occurred  in  primeval  ages  : one  from  Korea,  when 
the  immigrants  landed  in  the  province  of  Izumo  on 
the  west  coast  of  the  main  Island  of  Japan,  directly 
facing  Korea  and  separated  from  it  by  one  hundred 
miles  of  sea,  and  the  second  from  the  south,  in  which 
the  landing  took  place  at  Hiuga,  a province  on  the 
south-east  coast  of  Kiusiu.  Both  finally  united  at 
Yamato,  where  they  became  fused  into  one  people, 
the  southerners,  however,  proving  the  dominant  race 
and  furnishing  the  national  rulers.  The  ease  with 
which  they  united,  the  fact  that  tradition  recalls  no 
complications  between  them  caused  by  linguistic  diffi- 
culties, have  suggested  the  theory  that  both  bodies 
had  an  ultimate  common  origin,  that  the  southerners 
had,  as  was  the  case  with  those  who  landed  at  Izumo, 
their  original  home  in  the  Steppes  of  Siberia,  but 
reached  Japan  after  more  protracted  wanderings 
through  China  and  the  Malay  Archipelago,  during 
which  they  acquired  a large  admixture  of  Malay 
blood. 

These  theories  are  not  supported  by  what  history 
shows  was  the  case  in  Korea.  Before  the  dawn  of  the 
Christian  era  the  tribal  population  of  the  peninsula 
south  of  the  Han  River  were  distinct  in  language, 
customs,  moral  and  physical  characteristics  from 
those  north  of  the  river.  Those  in  the  south  may, 
as  did  the  Hiuga  immigrants  to  Japan,  originally 
have  found  their  way  from  the  Malay  Archipelago, 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE  29 


while  the  northerners  undoubtedly  came  from  Man- 
churia and  beyond.  Both,  in  the  process  of  time, 
acquired  a large  admixture  of  Chinese  and  Japanese 
blood,  hordes  of  Chinese  immigrants  pouring  into  the 
country  in  the  centuries  immediately  prior  to  and 
succeeding  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  flying 
from  the  anarchy  that  then  prevailed  throughout  their 
own  empire,  while  Japanese  founded  permanent 
settlements  over  a considerable  portion  of  the  south. 
In  later  ages  substantial  numbers  of  Koreans  of  all 
ranks  in  life  in  their  turn  emigrated  and  became 
domiciled  in  Japan,  infusing  their  own  blood  into 
the  Japanese,  both  of  the  aristocratic  and  of  the  lower 
classes.  Whatever  physical  influence  China  and 
Japan  may  have  exerted  on  the  Korean  people,  it 
was  not  sufficient  to  prevent  them  retaining  very 
distinct  physiognomic  peculiarities  which  clearly 
differentiate  them  from  both  and  render  it  almost 
impossible  for  any  one  with  knowledge  of  the  three 
to  mis.take  a Korean  for  either  of  the  others,  though 
all  three  have  the  invariable  Mongol  characteristics 
of  high  cheek-bones,  oblique  eyes,  and  bronze  skins. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  nose  is  less  flat  than  among 
the  Japanese,  and  the  upturned  nostrils  so  common 
among  the  lower  classes  of  the  latter  are  rarely  seen 
in  Korea.  The  Koreans  are  of  higher  stature  than 
the  Japanese,  the  average  height  of  the  men  being 
5 feet  4 inches,  and  generally  of  better  physique  ; 
the  dark,  uncurling  hair  that  is  universal  among  both 
Chinese  and  Japanese  is  occasionally  varied  in  Korea 
by  hair  that  approaches  brown  or  even  a lighter 
hue  ; Korean  hands  and  feet  are  smaller,  and  the 
expression  of  the  features  denotes  a higher  order  of 
intelligence  than  might  be  expected  from  that  of 
the  Chinese  or  Japanese.  A French  writer  > compares 
their  faces,  saillant,  poll  et  decouvert,  with  those  of 
' Georges  Ducrocq — “ Pauvre  et  Douce  Coree.” 


30 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


the  Bretons.  The  beard  is  universal,  Koreans  in  this 
respect  presenting  another  marked  antagonism  to  the 
clean-shaven  faces  of  the  Chinese  and  Japanese. 

The  languages  of  both  Korea  and  Japan  are  of 
the  same  Turanian  family,  as  closely  allied  as  are 
the  Dutch  and  German  or  the  Italian  and  Spanish 
languages  ; in  fact,  patriotic  Japanese  philologists  ' 
have  gone  so  far  as  to  claim  that  Korean  is  only  a 
branch  of  Japanese,  like  the  native  language  of  the 
Loo  Choo  Islands.  It  might  perhaps  be  more 
correctly  said  that  Japanese  is  only  a branch  of 
Korean.  Whichever  may  have  been  the  original  pre- 
dominating tongue,  not  only  Japanese  but  the  most 
distinguished  English  authorities  have  clearly  demon- 
strated from  both  construction  and  vocabulary  a close 
similarity  between  both  laaiguages  ; and  that  the 
resemblance  was  anciently  much  closer  than  at  the 
present  day  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  in  the  very 
earliest  intercourse  between  the  two  countries  no 
difficulty  whatsoever  seems  to  have  been  experienced 
in  the  interchange  of  ideas.  It  was, not  until  h. 
comparatively  late  period  that  interpreters  and  trans- 
lators were  first  mentioned  in  the  national  records, 
and  it  was  still  later  when  they  became  recognised 
as  necessary  officials. 

The  Koreans  rigidly  maintained  their  national 
isolation  from  the  rest  of  the  world  till  the  last  quarter 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  For  all  our  knowledge  of 
Japan  in  the  days  of  her  exclusiveness,  so  far  as  it 
is  founded  on  European  sources  of  information,  we 
are  entirely  dependent  on  the  French  missionaries 
and  on  a Dutch  savant,  and  the  case  is  almost  pre- 
cisely similar  in  regard  to  Korea.  We  have  vivid 
accounts  of  what  the  people  were  in  the  seventeenth 
and  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  centuries  in  the 

* S.  Kanazawa — “The  Common  Origin  of  the  Japanese  and 
Korean  Languages." 


THE  COUNTRY  AND  ITS  PEOPLE  31 


monograph,  not  of  a Dutch  savant,  but  of  a Dutch 
sailor,  and  in  the  letters  of  the  French  missionaries, 
summarised  in  the  “ Histoire  de  I’Eglise  de  Koree,” 
who,  as  their  predecessors  had  made  their  way  into 
Japan,  and  in  devotion  to  their  duty  braved  persecu- 
tion and  death  more  than  two  hundred  years  before, 
made  in  their  turn  their  way  by  stealth  into  Korea, 
and  there  lived  the  lives  of  hunted  fugitives  until 
those  lives  were  ended  by  deaths  as  cruel  as  any 
suffered  by  the  Christian  martyrs  of  Rome.  From 
the  writings  of  both  sailor  and  missionaries  a fairly 
full  description  may  be  gleaned  of  the  customs  and 
institutions  of  the  people  when  both  were  founded 
on  the  social  and  political  systems  of  China,  and  when 
no  attempt  had  yet  been  made  to  force  on  them 
the  civilisation  of  Europe,  which  Japan  so  eagerly, 
rapidly,  and  successfully  assimilated. 


CHAPTER  II 


THE  SOCIAL  SYSTEM  OF  OLD  KOREA 

Society  in  Korea  was  broadly  divided  into  two 
classes,  the  Yang  ban  or  nobles,  and  the  Ha-in  or 
low-men — the  commoners — but  in  each  of  these  classes 
there  were  many  subdivisions,  and  the  lower  orders 
of  the  Yang  ban  were  sufficiently  numerous  to  con- 
stitute what  might  be  called  a middle  class,  corre- 
sponding in  their  status,  but  in  that  alone,  to  the 
Samurai  of  Japan. 

The  ancient  nobility  of  the  old  kingdom  of  Korai, 
the  families  which  traced  their  descent  from  the  time 
of  Silla  or  were  ennobled  while  the  Wang  dynasty 
was  on  the  throne,  came  to  an  end  along  with  the 
downfall  of  the  dynasty  in  1392,  when  Korai  became 
Chosen,  and  the  founders  of  the  greatest  and  oldest 
families  among  the  modern  nobility  were  the  officers 
of  the  first  king  of  the  Taijo  dynasty,  which  con- 
tinued to  reign  until  the  annexation  of  the  kingdom 
by  Japan.  To  draw  a parallel  between  Korea  and 
England  the  legitimate  descendants  of  these  officers 
may  be  said  to  correspond  to  our  own  noble  families 
who  claim  to  trace  their  descent  from  ancestors  who 
came  over  at  the  Conquest  and  for  many  genera- 
tions they  alone  constituted  the  class  of  nobles.  The 
term  Yang  ban,  by  which  they  are  described,  means 
“ the  two  orders,”  the  two  orders  being  those  of  the 
civil  and  military  officers.  They  were  at  first  re- 
cruited only  by  the  sons  of  the  kings  born  of  con- 

32 


SOCIAL  SYSTEM  OF  OLD  KOREA  33 

cubines.  In  the  progress  of  time,  however,  others 
found  their  way  into  their  ranks.  Concubinage  was 
universal,  and  the  sons  of  nobles  born  from  con- 
cubines and  their  descendants  became  so  numerous 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century  that  they  were 
strong  enough  to  demand  and  acquire  the  privileges 
of  their  brothers  and  the  right  to  employment  in 
the  higher  offices  of  the  Government.  Persons  who 
rendered  signal  service,  whether  of  a national  or 
personal  nature,  worthy  or  unworthy,  to  the  King  ; 
others  who  acquired  a high  reputation  for  science 
or  learning  or  who  gave  marked  proof  of  filial  piety, 
the  very  highest  virtue  in  the  Korean  moral  code, 
were  sometimes  rewarded  with  a brevet  of  nobility  ; 
and  as  the  practice  of  adoption  was  in  full  force 
and  families  therefore  never  died  out,  the  only 
diminution  that  could  take  place  in  the  numbers  of 
those  who  had  once  been  admitted  within  the  privi- 
leged circle  was  when  the  head  of  the  house  com- 
mitted treason,  when  all  his  family,  dovm  to  a remote 
degree  of  relationship,  were  in  early  years  extermi- 
nated, and  in  later  years  degraded  and  relegated  to 
the  ranks  of  commoners,  or  when  a noble  voluntarily 
descended  from  his  rank  by  engaging  in  any  in- 
dustrial occupation  or  by  marrying  a widow  or  a 
slave.  On  the  other  hand,  as  the  rank  of  the  father 
extended  to  all  his  legitimate  sons,  every  son  of  a 
Yang  ban  was  also  a Yang  ban.  There  was,  there- 
fore, a large  natural  increase  in  the  aggregate  number 
of  the  class,  and  so  numerous  had  they  become  in  the 
progress  of  time  that  Yang  ban  were  estimated 
at  the  time  of  the  annexation  by  Japan  to  number 
one-fifth  of  the  entire  population.  All  of  them  were 
Yang  ban,  but  the  representatives  of  the  old  nobility, 
the  direct  descendants  of  the  first  creations,  main- 
tained a rigid  exclusiveness,  and  regarded  those  whose 
right  to  the  title  was  of  later  date  much  in  the 

3 


34 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


same  light  as  the  descendants  of  a Norman  knight 
regard  a newly  ennobled  brewer  or  banker,  or  in 
Japan,  which,  with  all  its  wonderful  democratic  pro- 
gress, is  still  steeped  to  the  very  lips  in  aristocratic 
prejudice,  the  living  representative  of  a long  line 
of  Kuge,  the  Court  nobles  who  trace  their  descent 
from  former  emperors,  or  even  direct  from  the  gods 
of  heaven,  regard  one  of  the  great  statesmen  or 
soldiers  whose  national  services  have  won  his  en- 
rolment among  the  highest  ranks  of  the  present 
peerage.  Properly  speaking,  the  representatives 
of  the  old  families  form  the  only  class  of  nobles, 
while  the  parvenus  constitute  the  nearest  approach 
that  Korea  presents  to  a middle  class. 

The  privileges  of  the  Yang  ban  were  great  and 
continued  to  be  so  until,  in  the  present  generation, 
drastic  democratic  reforms  were  made  under  the  com- 
pulsion of  Japan.  Theoretically  all  offices  in  the 
Government,  from  the  highest  minister  at  the  capital 
down  to  the  humblest  prefectural  clerk  in  the 
provinces,  were,  on  the  Chinese  system,  open  to  the 
successful  candidates  at  the  annual  competitive 
literary  examinations.  Practically  they  were  monopo- 
lised by  the  Yang  ban,  and  even  among  them 
the  passports  to  success  were  not  literary  skill,  but 
influence  and  bribery.  When  they  failed  to  obtain 
office,  the  only  employment  that  was  open  for  them 
was  that  of  teaching.  From  all  others  they  were 
debarred  by  their  rank,  and  any  attempt  to  engage 
in  either  trade  or  industry  was  at  once  followed  by 
social  degradation.  There  were,  therefore,  hosts  of 
Yang  ban  who  passed  their  lives  as  idle,  unproductive 
drones,  jealously  clinging  to  all  the  ancient  privi- 
leges of  their  rank,  but  content  to  extort  their  liveli- 
hood and  the  wherewithal  for  their  pleasure  from 
a peasantry  that  was  always  sunk  in  grinding 
poverty.  The  highest  occupation  of  the  best  among 


YAXOHAN* — AN  ARCHEKY  MEKTINCi 
(Friym  SUwgrttf'h  Cofyrijiht,  C iuUruv>.ui  & I'tuUmvoJ,  Lomhu.) 


To  face  p.34. 


V 


» 


SOCIAL  SYSTEM  OF  OLD  KOREA  35 


these  failures  was  the  study  of  the  Chinese  classics  ; 
their  pleasures  were  found  in  gossip  with  friends 
of  their  own  class,  equally  disappointed  in  life  and 
equally  idle,  in  social  gatherings  that  were  enlivened 
by  the  accomplishments  of  the  Gesang.  Hunting 
was  beneath  their  dignity  ; they  followed  the  ancient 
sport  of  archery,  in  which  the  Koreans  excelled  ; 
but  manly  games  were  unknown  to  them,  and  their 
whole  existence  was  one  of  utter  vacuousness.  In 
their  eyes  the  common  people  were  merely  ministers 
to  their  needs  and  pleasures. 

As  already  said,  a Yang  ban  could  do  no  work. 
He  might  possess  a few  acres  of  land,  which  were 
cultivated  for  him  on  similar  terms  to  those  under 
which  the  Irish  peasant  tilled  the  holding  that  he 
rented  from  an  idle,  impecunious  landlord  prior  to 
the  earlier  Gladstonian  legislation.  The  peasant 
could  retain  out  of  the  proceeds  what,  on  the  most 
grinding  estimate,  was  sufficient  to  keep  body  and 
soul  together  in  himself  and  his  family,  who  all 
aided  him  in  his  work.  All  else  went  to  the  land- 
lord. The  latter  could  claim  forced  labour  when- 
ever he  wanted  it  ; could  use  the  horses  and  cattle 
of  his  tenant  or  of  any  commoner  without  payment  ; 
when  travelling  could  claim  food  and  lodging  from 
the  local  magistrate  of  each  district,  the  magistrate 
in  his  turn  recouping  himself  by  fresh  exactions  on 
the  peasants  ; could  also  claim  forced  loans  if  it 
should  come  to  his  knowledge  that  his  tenant  or 
neighbouring  tradesman  or  peasant  had,  by  any 
stroke  of  luck,  increased  his  usual  earnings  ; and  no 
matter  how  great  the  social  pride  and  exclusiveness  of 
the  Yang  ban,  neither  ever  prevented  him  applying 
for  a loan  to  either  townsman  or  farmer,  but  they 
did  prevent  him  even  contemplating  the  indignity 
of  repayment.  The  privilege  of  ignoring  his  debts 
was  customary  though  not  legal.  Recognised  legal 


36 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


rights  were,  however,  many.  His  house  was  inviolate 
against  the  law  and  he  himself  against  arrest  except 
for  treason.  Plebeians  on  horseback  were  obliged 
to  dismount  when  passing  his  house  or  on  meeting 
him  on  the  highway  (in  Japan  they  were  not  allowed 
to  ride  at  all).  He  was  entitled  without  paying  for 
it  to  the  best  accommodation  in  inns.  He  was  not 
compelled  to  appeal  to  the  law  to  vindicate  his  dignity 
when  offended,  but  was  free  to  take  the  matter  into 
his  own  hands  and  to  measure  out  what  punishment 
he  liked.  Magistrates  of  his  own  class,  even  if  of 
a different  political  party,  had  no  wish  to  interfere 
with  him  ; and  if  they  had  the  wish,  they  dared  not 
exercise  it,  as  by  so  doing  they  would  offend  the  .whole 
of  their  order.  If  condemned  to  death,  a penalty 
which  was  only  inflicted  for  treason,  the  sentence 
was  carried  out,  not  publicly  on  the  common  execu- 
tion-ground as  in  the  case  of  ordinary  people  for 
all  offences,  whether  great  or  trivial,  not  with  the 
slow  torture  which  often  accompanied  the  latter  cases, 
but  in  secret,  and  in  a manner  which  bore  some 
resemblance  to  the  samurai’s  treasured  privilege  of 
seppuku  (harakiri).  The  Korean  noble  withdrew  to 
his  own  apartment,  where  he  took  a cup  of  poison, 
and  his  end  was  as  speedy  as  that  of  the  Samurai 
when  his  head  fell  beneath  the  sword  of  his  second. 

Whatever  his  vices  and  faults,  the  Yang  ban  was 
a picturesque  figure,  almost  as  much  so,  though  in 
a different  way,  as  the  silk -clad,  sword-girdled 
Samurai.  Clad  in  flowing  garments  either  of  spot- 
less white  or  of  silk  of  brilliant  green,  blue,  or  purple 
dyes,  his  stature  intensified  by  his  tall,  broad- 
brimmed,  conical  hat  of  finely  woven  bamboo, 
lacquered  in  black  to  a degree  of  polish  that  would 
delight  the  heart  of  a Piccadilly  lounger,  he  cultivated 
a slow  and  dignified  gait,  an  erect  carriage,  and  a 
haughty  demeanour.  If  rich  enough,  he  was,  in  his 


SOCIAL  SYSTEM  OF  OLD  KOREA  37 


walks  or  rides,  supported  on  either  side  by  a servant, 
and  whether  attended  or  alone,  whether  on  foot  or 
on  horseback,  nothing  on  earth  could  induce  him  to 
derogate  his  dignity  by  an  appearance  of  haste. 

As  the  Samurai  of  Japan  belonged  to  separate 
fiefs,  so  did  the  Yang  ban  of  Korea  belong  to  separate 
political  parties  of  their  own  class.  The  earliest 
of  these  parties,  which  are  described  in  another 
chapter,*  were  formed  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and  to 
one  or  other  of  them  every  Yang  ban  belonged,  not 
choosing  his  own  party  by  personal  predilection  or 
sympathy,  but  solely  by  the  claims  of  heredity.  The 
rival  parties  were  saturated  with  the  most  intense 
hereditary  hatred  of  each  other,  carried  to  the  degree 
that  intermarriage  between  them  was  unknown.  The 
whole  serious  business  of  life  of  all  their  members 
was  to  defend  themselves  from  or  to  cause  injury 
to  their  antagonists  of  the  opposite  parties,  and  the 
only  occasions  on  which  they  ever  united  was  when 
the  rights  or  privileges  of  their  whole  class  were 
threatened.  Then  they  invariably  presented  a solid 
front.  At  all  times  the  fortunes  of  all  members  of 
each  party  were  bound  by  the  closest  ties  of  self- 
interest.  When  the  leader  of  one  won  the  favour  of 
the  King  and  secured  high  office,  his  first  use  of  it 
was  to  provide  for  all  his  followers,  and  on  the  fall 
of  his  rival,  all  followers  of  the  latter,  down  to  the 
humblest,  shared  in  his  loss  of  office.  There  was 
no  permanent  service  either  military  or  civil,  unless 
in  so  far  as  one  party  had  a long  tenure  of  the  royal 
favour  and  consequently  of  office.  In  one  instance 
this  tenure  extended  for  over  half  a century,  during 
the  whole  of  which  all  the  members  of  the  other 
parties  were  absolutely  excluded  from  any  share  in 
the  administration,  from  any  opportunity  of  devoting 
their  abilities  to  the  national  service  in  any  capacity 
' Vide  p.  134. 


38 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


whatever.  In  such  times  many  of  them  fell  into 
the  extremes  of  poverty.  The  missionaries  tell  of 
instances  they  have  known  where  nobles,  who  had 
no  commoners  to  plunder,  could  only  eat  rice  once 
every  three  or  four  days,  could  neither  have  fires 
nor  sufficient  clothing  in  the  most  severe  weather, 
and  even  died  of  cold  and  hunger.  No  privation 
could  induce  them  to  stain  their  rank  by  work.  To 
have  done  so  would  have  been  to  put  an  end  to  all 
the  hopes  under  which  they  were  content  to  suffer, 
that  a turn  in  a wheel  of  fortune  would  some  time 
bring  their  own  party  into  power  and  office  to 
themselves. 

It  has  been  already  said  that  theoretically  all 
Government  appointments  were  given  to  the 
successful  candidates  in  the  annual  literary  examina- 
tion. In  practice  the  system  was  that  the  King  took 
the  leader  of  one  of  the  great  parties  as  his  Prime 
Minister,  and  that  the  latter  distributed  the  offices 
to  his  adherents  at  his  pleasure.  Many  of  the  Kings* 
of  Korea  were  vigorous  and  capable  rulers,  who  took 
and  held  the  administration  in  their  own  hands  with 
a firm  grasp.  Many  of  them,  on  the  other  hand,  were 
quite  the  reverse,  and  were,  vis-d-vis  their  prime 
ministers,  as  much  rois  faineants  as  were  the  Emperors 
of  Japan  when  the  Shoguns  were  in  power.  Just  as 
the  Shogun  could  do  anything  in  the  name  of  the 
Emperor  and  could  rely  on  his  ratification  of  all  he 
did,  so  could  the  Korean  minister  do  as  he  pleased 
when  acting  in  the  name  of  a weak  or  careless 
sov^ereign,  who,  though  he  did  not  possess  the  divine 
attributes  of  the  heaven-descended  Mikados,  was 
vested  by  his  people  with  a reverence  which  fell  short 
only  of  that  due  to  the  gods,  and  with  authority  that 
reached  the  very  extreme  limits  of  the  most  unfettered 
absolutism. 

The  King’s  person  was  always  sacred.  No  subject 


YAN*(JHA\  AT  HOME — A GAME  OK  CHESS, 
(f’rom  Stertofinifh  C<'fyright,  VtuUnivoii  & CnJiruvoti,  Lomhn 


To  lacc  p.  38. 


SOCIAL  SYSTEM  OF  OLD  KOREA  39 


was  ever  permitted  to  mention  his  name  in  his  life- 
time, no  male  subject  permitted  to  touch  him,  none 
even  to  approach  him  except  in  the  attitude  of  the 
most  reverential  humility.  If,  by  accident,  he  touched 
any  one,  the  place  where  he  did  so  became  sacred 
and  had  to  be  distinguished  by  a red  ribbon  for 
ever  afterwards.  His  countenance  was  never  engraved 
on  the  coins  of  the  realm,  where  it  could  be  soiled 
by  the  touch  of  vulgar  hands.  His  portrait  could 
only  be  painted  after  his  death.  No  one  could 
appear  in  his  presence  in  mourning  garb,  none  wear 
spectacles  before  him.  Above  all,  nothing  made  of 
iron  could  ever  touch  him,  and  kings  have  died  in 
consequence,  when  their  lives  might  have  been  saved 
by  the  timely  application  of  a lance  which  no  surgeon 
'dared  to  use  on  them.  When  he  died  the  whole 
nation  went  into  mourning  for  three  years,  the  pre- 
scribed period  of  mourning  for  a father,  for  the 
King  was  the  father  of  all  his  people.  For  the  first 
five  months  of  this  period  a strict  prohibition  was 
laid  on  marriages,  public  or  private  entertainments, 
the  slaughter  of  animals,  the  execution  of  criminals, 
and  clothes  made  of  unbleached  hemp  were  alone 
allowed  to  be  worn. 

The  prerogatives  of  the  King  were  on  a par  with 
the  semi-divinity  in  which  he  was  hedged.  He  was 
always  absolute  both  in  name  and  reality.  The  law 
was  what  he  willed  it  to  be.  Over  all  his  subjects, 
from  the  princes  of  his  own  line  down  to  the  humblest 
peasant,  he  had  the  power  of  life  and  death.  Their 
property,  as  well  as  their  lives,  was  at  his  disposal. 
His  duty  was  to  watch  over  the  public  weal,  to 
secure  the  observance  of  the  laws,  and  to  protect  the 
people  against  tyranny  or  extortion  on  the  part  of 
the  officials.  When  the  King  was  strong  and  capable, 
as  some  were,  his  duty  was  performed  so  far  as  was 
within  'the  capacity  and  judgment  of  one  human  being 


40 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


who  was  necessarily  dependent  on  others  for  the 
carrying  out  of  his  commands  ; but  when  his  up- 
bringing in  a servile  and  corrupt  Court  had  its 
natural  result  in  developing  the  worst  vices  of  human 
frailty,  weak  and  vicious  himself,  and  surrounded 
and  influenced  only  by  the  palace  women  and 
avaricious  eunuchs,  he  often  gave  way  to  unrestrained 
debauchery,  and  became  as  incapable  as  he  was  un- 
willing to  discharge  efficiently  the  duties  of  his  royal 
office.  Then  the  contending  factions  of  the  Court 
had  full  scope  for  the  exercise  of  their  talents  for 
intrigue,  and  high  office  was  given,  not  to  the  able 
and  upright  but  to  the  sycophant  and  pander  who 
most  successfully  ministered  to  his  master’s  worst 
vices. 

All  offices  were  used  unscrupulously  for  the  spolia- 
tion of  the  people  and  the  enrichment  of  the  holders. 
The  King,  the  people  said,  “ saw  nothing,  knew 
nothing,  could  do  nothing.”  The  limit  of  taxation 
or  extortion  was  only  that  of  the  people  to  pay. 
With  a country  blessed  by  Nature  with  a bountiful 
soil  and  abundant  rainfall,  a splendid  climate,  and 
undoubted  sources  of  great  mineral  wealth,  entirely 
exempt  from  all  the  great  disasters  of  flood  and 
earthquake  that  are  the  terrors  of  Japan,  the  peasants, 
who  constituted  nine-tenths  of  the  common  people, 
though  gifted  with  great  physical  strength  and  powers 
of  endurance,  with  moral  and  intellectual  qualities 
that  were  not  inferior  to  those  of  their  industrious 
Chinese  neighbours,  with  physical  courage  that  made 
them  as  fearless  of  death  or  pain  as  the  bravest  of 
Japanese,  had  no  incentive  to  industry  when  all  the 
products  of  their  labour  were  ruthlessly  appropriated 
by  the  nobles  and  officials  and  only  the  barest  pit- 
tances left  to  the  producers.  Hunger  was  always 
present  with  them,  famine  frequently,  and  cholera 
followed  in  the  track  of  famine  to  complete  the  work 


SOCIAL  SYSTEM  OF  OLD  KOREA  41 


■which  it  had  begun.  All  these  circumstances  com- 
bined to  render  the  peasants  the  most  hopeless, 
helpless,  apathetic,  broken-spirited  people  on  earth, 
compared  with  whom  the  Irish  Roman  Catholic,  in 
the  worst  days  of  Orange  domination  and  landlord 
absolutism,  or  the  Russian  serf  might  almost  be  called 
free,  prosperous,  and  happy. 

Such  were  the  conditions  of  the  Korean  people 
throughout  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries, 
and  these  conditions  continued  with  but  little 
modification  till  the  beginning  of  the  Japanese 
Protectorate  in  1905.  The  rapacity  and  tyranny  of 
the  nobles  were  too  engrained  by  long  usance,  the 
people  too  convinced  that  their  only  lot  in  life  was 
to  act  as  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  t,o 
their  masters,  to  admit  of  either  being  reformed,  even 
by  contact  with  the  outer  world,  unless  reform  was 
forced  on  them  as  medicine  is  forced  on  a sick  and 
refractory  child. 

The  feature  of  the  social  system  of  Korea  which 
most  forcibly  impressed  the  first  Europeans  who 
visited  the  country  after  its  opening  to  the  world, 
as  it  also  did  the  French  missionaries,  was  not  the 
tyranny  and  idleness  of  the  nobles,  nor  the  degrada- 
tion and  misery  of  the  peasants,  striking  though  both 
were,  but  the  absolute  subjection  of  women.  In  other 
countries  nobles  were  greedy  and  tyrannical  and 
peasants  starved  and  oppressed,  but  none  afforded 
a parallel  to  the  lot  of  Korean  women.  Rigid 
Mohammedans  kept  their  women  in  absolute  seclu- 
sion, but  gave  them  lives  of  ease.  The  red  Indians 
of  America  forced  theirs  to  lead  lives  of  unremitting 
and  unending  toil,  but  gave  them  liberty.  The 
Koreans  practised  the  vices  of  both  without  the 
redeeming  indulgences  of  either. 

In  her  childhood  and  girlhood  the  Korean  woman 
was  and  is  the  abject  slave  of  her  parents,  in  wife- 


42 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


hood  of  her  husband,  in  widowhood  a pariah  ; and 
throughout  all  her  life  a soul -destroying,  monotonous 
imprisonment  was  only  relieved  by  a very  few  hours' 
liberty  in  the  streets  when  night  had  fallen  and,  as 
far  as  men  were  concerned,  the  pleasures  and  work 
of  the  day  were  over.  Women  had  no  existence  in 
the  eyes  of  the  law,  no  personal  rights,  not  even 
names.  They  were  only  spoken  of  as  the  daughter, 
sister,  or  wife,  as  the  case  might  be,  of  the  men  in 
whose  houses  they  lived,  who  w'ere  their  guardians, 
masters,  and  owners  for  the  time  being.  Women 
who  had  no  male  guardian  were  like  ownerless 
animals — the  property  of  the  first  man  who  cared  to 
take  possession  of  them. 

In  her  marriage  the  woman  had  no  voice  ; her 
husband  was  selected  for  her  by  her  father  ; she 
never  saw  him,  nor  indeed  any  man  outside  the  circle 
of  her  own  family,  before  her  wedding-day,  and 
even  then  etiquette  did  not  permit  her,  throughout 
all  the  wedding  festivities  and  ceremonial,  to  ex- 
change a single  word  with  him,  not  even  when  both 
had  retired  to  the  nuptial  chamber.  There,  let  the 
young  husband  be  as  gallant  and  amorous  as  he 
might,  even  heap  compliments  or  questions  on  her, 
etiquette  demanded  that,  seated  in  a corner  of  the 
room,  she  should  remain  dumb  and  immovable  as 
a statue.  The  husband  might  disrobe  her  of  her 
voluminous  wedding  garments  ; she  could  neither 
assist  nor  repel  him,  neither  utter  a word  nor  make 
a gesture.  The  female  servants  of  the  family  were 
all  the  time  spying  on  her  from  the  windows  and 
straining  their  ears  at  the  doors,  and  the  least 
violation  on  her  part  of  all  that  female  etiquettte 
prescribed  was  quickly  reported  and  made  her  the 
laughing-stock  of  her  women  friends.  Once  a young 
husband  laid  a wager  with  his  friends  that  he  would 
make  his  bride  speak  at  their  first  interview.  After 


To  face  p.  42. 


?? 


> 


'iff 


I 


f 


■ i * 


I 


SOCIAL  SYSTEM  OF  OLD  KOREA  43 


many  vain  efforts  he  at  last  said  that  the  astrologers, 
when  drawing  his  horoscope,  had  predicted  for  him 
a mute  from  birth  as  his  wife  ; he  now  saw  their 
predictions  were  fulfilled,  but  he  was  resolved  not 
to  retain  a mute  as  his  wife.  The  bride  might  have 
safely  preserved  her  silence,  for  a marriage,  once 
the  legal  formalities  are  concluded,  cannot  be 
annulled  even  by  the  newly  discovered  dumbness, 
deafness,  or  impotency  of  either  party.  Stung,  how- 
ever, by  his  words,  she  answered  bitterly  : “ My 

horoscope  is  even  worse.  The  astrologer  foretold 
that  my  husband  should  be  the  son  of  a rat,  and  he 
was  not  wrong.”  This  is  the  most  contemptuous 
epithet  in  the  Korean  vocabulary,  and  it  reflects  not 
only  upon  the  person  to  whom  it  is  applied  but  on 
his  father,  who  is  the  subject  of  infinite  veneration 
to  every  Korean  son.  The  bridegroom,  in  this  case, 
gained  his  wager,  but  he  had  to  pay  dearly  for  it 
in  submitting  to  the  jeers  of  his  friends  at  the  only 
speech  which  he  had  drawn  from  his  bride,  when 
they  heard  of  what  occurred  from  the  prying  maid- 
servants. 

After  marriage  the  secluded  life  of  the  woman 
continued  unchanged.  Her  husband  never  consulted 
her,  rarely  even  conversed  with  her.  She  was  to 
him  only  one  who  would  work  for  him,  secure  his 
comforts,  and  give  him  children.  All  her  duties  were 
towards  him.  She  was  required  to  be  devoted, 
obedient,  careful  of  his  property  and  his  reputation, 
to  bring  up  his  children  in  due  observance  of  filial 
piety  towards  him,  and  to  manage  his  household. 
The  husband  owed  nothing  to  her.  Conjugal  fidelity 
had  no  part  in  his  moral  code  ; it  was  obligatory 
on  the  wife,  who  was  not  permitted  to  harbour  even 
a thought  of  jealousy  against  her  rival.  She  could, 
if  her  husband  were  generous,  entertain  or  visit  her 
female  friends,  but  could  never  look  on  or  be  seen 


44 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


by  another  man,  not  even  by  her  own  relations  unless 
in  the  very  nearest  degree.  If  she  were  touched  or 
even  seen  by  one,  she  would  be  dishonoured  for 
ever,  a principle  of  ethics  which  occasionally  pro- 
duced a result  contrary  to  its  intention.  If  a man, 
no  matter  what  he  may  have  been,  outlaw  or  thief, 
gained  secret  access  to  a woman’s  apartments,  it 
was  safer  for  her  to  yield  to  him  in  silence  rather 
than  obtain  protection  by  calling  for  it.  In  the 
latter  case,  it  was  known  that  she  had  been  seen  by 
a strange  man  and  she  was  lost  for  ever.  In  the 
former,  her  dishonour  might  remain  undiscovered 
and  her  reputation  be  saved.  Even  from  her  own 
children  she  could  only  expect  a tithe  of  the  reverence 
that  it  was  her  duty  to  teach  them  to  render  to  their 
father.  Filial  piety  was  the  first  thing  that  was 
taught  to  every  child  in  its  own  home,  but  the  mother 
had  no  share  in  it.  Children,  especially  boys,  were 
tenderly  loved  and  carefully  brought  up  ; but  the 
sons  quickly  learned,  even  in  early  childhood,  that 
their  mothers  were  domestic  nullities,  to  whom  no 
obedience,  scarcely  a pretence  of  obedience,  was  due. 
At  the  age  of  eight  years  they  were  removed  from 
the  inner,  screened  apartments  of  their  homes  where 
their  mothers  and  sisters  passed  their  lives.  Thence- 
forward they  lived  entirely  with  the  men,  and  all  that 
they  heard,  all  that  they  could  see,  served  only  to 
teach  them  the  infinite  inferiority  of  women  ; and 
in  the  pride  of  their  se.x  they  quickly  learned  the 
scornful  contempt  for  both  mother  and  sisters  which 
continued  to  all  women  throughout  all  their  lives. 
The  girls  remained  with  their  mother,  and,  by  pre- 
cept and  example,  were  taught  to  bear  the  burden 
of  inferiority  that  belongs  to  a lower  order  of  human 
beings. 

Death  did  not  dissolve  the  disparity  between  the 
sexes.  A widower  wore  half  mourning  for  a few 


SOCIAL  SYSTEM  OF  OLD  KOREA  45 


months,  then  remarried.  A widow  was  obliged  to 
wear  deep  mourning  and  remain  a widow  for  all  her 
life,  no  matter  how  young  she  might  have  been  at 
the  beginning  of  her  widowhood  ; her  remarriage 
was  an  infamy  and  the  law  regarded  the  children 
born  of  such  a marriage  as  illegitimate,  and  a noble 
who  descended  to  such  an  alliance,  equally  with  one 
who  married  a slave,  was  degraded  from  his  rank 
to  the  level  of  the  commoner.  The  natural  result 
followed  on  this  enforced  chastity,  and  many  young 
widows  became  the  concubines  of  those  who  were 
willing  to  keep  them.  Those  who  endeavoured  to 
lead  honourable  lives  were  exposed  to  many  perils 
in  their  loneliness.  Sometimes  they  were  drugged 
and  recovered  to  find  a ravisher  at  their  side  who 
had  dishonoured  them  in  their  stupor  ; sometimes 
they  were  forcibly  carried  away  during  the  night, 
and  once  a widow  had  become  the  victim  of  a man 
who  lusted  for  her,  no  matter  by  what  fraud  or 
violence  he  had  effected  his  purpose,  law  and  custom 
made  her  his  for  ever.  Widows  not  infrequently 
“ followed  their  husbands  in  death  ” rather  than  face 
their  future,  and  once,  when  there  were  rumours 
of  civil  war,  Christian  converts  who  were  widows 
asked  the  priests  for  a dispensation  to  commit  suicide 
if  the  troops  on  either  side  came  near  their  dwellings 
as  the  only  way  to  escape  dishonour,  and  the  fathers 
had  the  utmost  difficulty  in  convincing  them  that  even 
the  fate  they  dreaded  would  not  justify  suicide,  “ a 
crime  that  was  abominable  before  God.” 

While  such  was  the  social  status  of  women — 
ciphers  both  in  society  and  in  their  own  families — 
they,  on  the  other  hand,  received  a certain  amount 
of  outward  politeness.  Their  own  apartments  were 
inviolable,  sacred  even  to  the  officers  of  the  law 
except  in  the  case  of  treason.  If  a would-be  pur- 
chaser proposed  to  visit  a house  that  was  for  sale. 


46 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


he  gave  warning  of  his  coming,  so  that  the  women’s 
apartments  might  be  closed,  and  he  inspected  only 
the  general  rooms  that  were  used  by  the  men  of  the 
house,  and  in  which  strangers  were  received.  If  a 
man  wished  to  ascend  to  the  roof  of  his  own  house, 
he  first  warned  his  neighbours,  so  that  the  doors  and 
windows  of  the  women’s  apartments  in  theirs  might 
be  closed.  Even  a husband,  much  though  he  might 
despise  his  wife,  invariably  used  honorific  terms  in 
addressing  her  and  the  female  members  of  his  house- 
hold, the  slaves  alone  excepted  ; and  in  the  streets  the 
wall  was  invariably  given  to  women,  though  only  the 
poorest  and  lowest  were  ever  seen  in  them  by  men. 
And  every  day  the  great  curfew  bell  of  the  capital 
rang  at  nine  o’clock,  w'hen  darkness  had  fallen,  as 
a signal  to  all  the  men  that  they  must  hurry  home 
and  take  their  turn  in  rigid  domestic  seclusion.  Then 
the  women  trooped  forth,  and  for  a few  hours  they  had 
the  streets  entirely  to  themselves,  very  drastic  punish- 
ment being  inflicted  on  any  man  who  violated  their 
privilege.  The  custom  died  out  when  Europeans, 
who  could  not  be  confined  to  their  homes  at  any 
hour,  began  to  reside  in  Seoul,  and  the  streets  are 
not  now  denuded  of  men.  But  its  spirit  remains,  and 
nightfall  still  brings  the  time  of  comparative  freedom 
for  the  women,  when  they  are  released  from  their 
prisons  and  permitted  to  take  the  air  in  the  streets 
or  to  make  visits  to  their  friends.  The  rich  are 
carried  in  chairs,  closely  screened  ; the  well-to-do 
go  on  foot,  but  veiled  or  hooded,  and  attended  by  a 
servant,  so  their  freedom  is  limited  ; but  human  nature, 
though  bound  in  iron  fetters,  is  the  same  in  Seoul 
as  it  is  all  over  the  world,  and  if  romances  reflect 
the  true  life  of  the  people,  the  most  rigid  seclusion 
is  not  always  effective  in  preventing  the  formation 
of  liaisons,  and  the  nightly  liberation  gives  the  oppor- 
tunity of  meetings  that  is  not  always  neglected.  Both 


SOCIAL  SYSTEM  OF  OLD  KOREA  47 


sexes  have  strong  physical  passions,  and  no  barriers 
of  religion,  morality,  or  custom  prevent  their  grati- 
fication when  opportunity  permits  it  without  certainty 
of  discovery. 

The  description  of  the  status  of  Korean  women  has 
been  written  in  the  past  tense,  as  in  its  utmost  strict- 
ness^it  applies  to  the  years  antecedent  to  the  opening 
of  Korea  to  the  world,  but  very  little  modification  is 
required  to  render  it  applicable  to  the  women  of  the 
present  day,  when  Korea  has  already  had  over  thirty 
years’  experience  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  other 
nations.  Some  changes  have  taken  place  in  their 
condition,  and  the  abolition  of  their  monopoly  of 
the  streets  after  nightfall  is  not  the  only  reform  which 
has  been  made  in  the  customs  that  peculiarly  affected 
them.  Widows  are  now  permitted  to  remarry,  and 
girls  to  decline  marriage  until  they  have  attained  the 
age  of  sixteen.  But  all  the  reforms  that  have  been 
made  have  not  yet  brought  about  any  radical  change 
in  the  social  bonds  that  fetter  their  liberty  and  mental 
development.  As  they  Mere  in  the  days  when  the 
Roman  Catholic  missionaries,  hidden  in  the  houses  of 
their  native  converts,  in  the  confidence  that  was 
reposed  in  pastors  whose  purity  and  devotion  were 
tested  in  the  fierce  fires  of  cruel  persecution,  were 
able  to  see  and  learn  something  of  their  lives,  so  they 
are  to-day,  secluded  prisoners  in  their  homes,  nullities 
in  all  the  incidents  of  life  both  within  and  beyond 
the  walls  of  those  homes.  They  are  not  altogether 
deficient  in  education.  Some  have  a direct  know- 
ledge of  the  Chinese  classics  ; all  can  read  the 
numerous  translations  in  their  own  vernacular,  printed 
in  the  Korean  script  ; but  the  portions  which  are 
available  to  Momen  are  those  which  inculcate  their 
main  duties,  reverence  and  obedience  to  husbands 
and  their  parents,  the  upbringing  of  children  and 
household  duties,  in  all  of  which  uncomplaining  and 


48 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


unquestioning  subjection  is  taught  as  a virtue  that 
is  on  a par  with  chastity.  Foreigners,  not  only 
Europeans  but  Chinese  and  Japanese,  know  little 
of  them.  All  their  descriptions  of  Korean  women, 
of  their  slender,  graceful,  supple  figures,  their  expres- 
sion of  grave  melancholy,  their  features,  beautiful 
with  small  mouths,  oval  chins,  frank  eyes,  fair  com- 
plexions, crowned  with  heavy  masses  of  ebony  black 
hair,  are  founded  on  what  these  foreigners  have  seen 
of  the  Gesang,  the  sisters  of  the  Geisha  of  Japan, 
chosen  like  the  Geisha  for  their  beauty  when  young, 
and  like  them  taught  and  trained  so  as  to  be  sparkling 
companions  for  men.  To  the  present  day,  women  of 
the  upper  classes  only  appear  in  the  streets  in 
screened  chairs,  of  the  middle  closely  veiled,  and 
both  are  as  inaccessible  to  the  view  as  they  are 
to  the  interchange  of  ideas  with  the  European  resi- 
dent or  visitor.  The  women  of  the  lower  classes, 
whose  share  in  the  toils  of  daily  life  necessitates 
their  appearance  by  day  outside  their  own  homes, 
do  not  now,  at  least  in  the  capital  and  the  principal 
trading  ports,  fly  like  frightened  hares  when  they 
meet  a European,  as  they  used  to  do  in  the  early 
years  after  the  opening  of  the  country,  but  they 
still  avert  their  faces  and  do  their  best  not  to  be 
seen.  A man  of  their  owm  country  never  even 
glances  at  them.  It  would  be  far  beneath  his 
dignity  to  do  so,  and  any  dereliction  from  what 
dignity  imposed  upon  him  would  only  expose  him 
to  the  ridicule  or  contempt  of  his  fellow-men.  The 
chief  occupation  of  the  women  of  the  lower  classes 
is  that  of  acting  as  washerwomen  to  the  males  of 
their  family.  The  universal  garment  of  men  of  all 
classes,  except  the  high  Yang  ban  or  officials  W'ho 
occasionally  wear  coloured  silks,  both  in  winter  and 
summer,  are  long  flowing  robes  of  white  cotton,  and 
it  is  the  task  of  the  women  to  keep  these  robes  in 


A YA\(;i(A\’s  KKSIDKN’CK — KN’TKANCK. 

(^rom  Slcm>gr,i^l,  Co^rnglil.  I'lulcrwoo.l  S-  I mUniooil,  l.oiuhii.l 


To  face  p.  48. 


' i>  ’ 4 * 


'n 


4 


i 


* 


i 

■3 


* 


1 


\ 

^ *1 

) 


r‘ 


« 


SOCIAL  SYSTEM  OF  OLD  KOREA  49 


the  spotless  cleanliness  that  is  universal  except  among 
the  lowest  labourers.  Seoul  has  sometimes  been 
described  as  one  great  laundry,  where  the  tap  of 
the  wooden  rollers  with  which  the  garments  are 
beaten  to  produce  a fine  gloss  is  heard  from  every 
house  at  every  hour  of  the  day  and  night,  and  was, 
until  tramways  and  carts  made  their  appearance,  the 
principal  sound  that  broke  the  still  calm  of  the 
streets.  The  reward  of  all  this  labour  is  or 
was  that  the  streets  of  a Korean  town  had  always  a 
festal  air  by  day.  In  the  darkness  of  early  night, 
while  the  men  were  still  abroad,  they  seemed  to  be 
traversed  by  an  unending  line  of  ghostly  visitors, 
an  impression  which  was  aided  by  the  slow  and 
stately  movements  that  were  the  mark  of  the  Yang 
ban  and  were  imitated  as  well  as  they  could  be 
by  traders  and  well-to-do  artisans. 


4 


CHAPTER  III 


THE  DARK  AGES 

Korea  claims  to  date  the  beginning  of  her  history 
from  the  year  2333  B.C.,  nearly  seventeen  hundred 
years  prior  to  the  accession  of  Jimmu  Tenno  to  the 
Imperial  throne  of  Japan,  and,  to  take  a Western 
parallel,  nearly  sixteen  hundred  years  prior  to  the 
founding  of  the  city  of  Rome.  In  that  year  the 
son  of  the  Creator  of  Heaven  descended  with  a 
retinue  of  heavenly  spirits,  alighting  on  a mountain 
in  what  is  now  the  province  of  Phyong  An,  and  there 
beneath  the  shade  of  a santal-tree,  in  the  presence 
of  his  attendant  spirits,  he  proclaimed  himself  Lord 
of  all  the  earthly  world,  assuming  the  name  of  “ Tan 
Gun  ” or  the  Lord  of  the  Santal-tree.  Though  on 
earth  he  retained  divine  immortality,  for  his  reign 
lasted  for  over  one  thousand  years,  and  then  he 
did  not  die  but  resumed  his  original  heavenly  form 
and  disappeared  from  the  earth.  Relics  of  him  and 
his  reign  still  remain.  An  altar  built  by  him  still 
exists  on  Mount  Mari  in  the  island  of  Kang  Wha. 
Phyong  An,  a city  famous  throughout  all  the  history 
of  Korea,  from  his  time  to  the  present  day,  is  said 
to  have  been  his  capital,  and  while  he  ascended  to 
heaven  without  dying,  his  grave  is  still  shown  in  the 
province  at  Kang  Tong.  He  had  a son  who  was 
driven  from  his  father’s  kingdom  by  Ki  Tse,  and 
who,  flying  northwards,  founded  a new  kingdom  in  the 

far  north  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Puyu,  which 

so 


THE  DARK  AGES 


51 


we  shall  find  influencing  the  destinies  of  Korea  after 
another  thousand  years  have  passed. 

Ki  Tse,  before  whom  the  son  of  Tan  Gun  fled,  is 
regarded  as  the  founder  of  Korean  civilisation.  In 
the  twelfth  century  preceding  the  Christian  era  the 
Yin  dynasty  of  the  Emperors  of  China,  which  had 
lasted  from  1766  B.C.,  was  tottering  to  its  fall.  The 
last  of  the  race  was  the  Emperor  Chow,  whose 
cruelty  and  vices  made  his  subjects  rise  in  rebellion 
and  destroy  him  and  all  his  family.  He  had  been 
fortunate  in  having  three  sages  as  his  ministers  who 
had  vainly  endeavoured  to  divert  him  from  his  evil 
courses.  Two  of  them  were  put  to  death  at  the 
instigation  of  a beautiful  concubine  with  whom  he 
was  infatuated  ; and  the  third,  Ki  Tse,  though  closely 
allied  by  blood  to  the  Emperor,  was  in  prison  when 
the  revolution  took  place.  He  was  at  once  re- 
leased, and  the  new  Emperor  offered  to  restore  him 
to  his  old  dignities.  Notwithstanding  all  he  had 
suffered,  he  was  still  loyal  to  the  memory  of  his 
former  master,  and  found  it  impossible  to  serve  the 
usurper  to  whom  that  master  owed  his  ruin,  however 
well  merited  it  was.  He  chose  rather  to  expatriate 
himself  and  seek  a home  in  a new  land,  and,  accom- 
panied in  his  exodus  by  five  thousand  faithful 
followers,  he  migrated  to  Korea,  and  there  founded 
a kingdom  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of  Chosen, 
the  Land  of  the  Morning  Calm.  This  was  in  the  year 
I I 22  B.C. 

Whether  his  migration  took  place  by  sea  or  land 
is  not  known,  nor  is  the  precise  locality  of  the  new 
kingdom  definitely  acknowledged.  Some  historians 
say  that  it  was  entirely  outside  the  boundaries  of 
modern  Korea,  and  that  it  lay  where  the  Chinese 
province  Sheng  King  now  is.  But  the  version  dear 
to  the  hearts  of  Koreans  is  that  he  came  by  sea  and 
landed  somewhere  south  of  the  Han  River  ; that 


52 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


his  capital  was,  as  was  that  of  Tan  Gun,  at  the  city 
of  Phyong  An,  and  that  his  kingdom  was  originally 
in  the  Korean  provinces  of  Phyong  An  and  Hoang- 
hai,  though  it  subsequently  spread  in  the  north  until 
its  boundary  became  the  River  Liao.  iWhatever  be 
the  truth,  Ki  Tse  and  his  followers  brought  with 
them  the  elements  of  civilisation,  of  industry,  and 
of  good  government  Before  his  coming  the  land 
which  he  occupied  was  peopled  by  nine  wild  tribes 
who  dressed  in  grass,  lived  under  the  trees  in  summer 
and  in  holes  in  the  earth  in  winter,  and  fed  on 
berries.  He  introduced  among  them  the  arts  and 
industries  of  China,  taught  them  tillage  and  seri- 
culture ; above  all,  he  taught  them  propriety,  the 
proper  relations  that  exist  among  civilised  mankind, 
those  of  king  and  subject,  parent  and  child,  husband 
and  wife,  old  and  young,  master  and  servant,  and 
gave  them  the  “ eight  simple  laws,”  under  which 
peace  and  order  were  so  well  maintained  that  robbery 
was  unknown,  doors  and  shutters  were  never  closed, 
not  even  during  the  night,  and  women  were  rigidly 
chaste.  Ki  Tse  reigned  for  thirty-one  years,  and, 
dying  in  1083  B.C.,  left  a kingdom  which  was  ruled 
by  his  direct  descendants  for  nearly  nine  hundred 
years.  The  last  of  the  dynasty  was  Ki  jun,  who 
reigned  at  his  ancestral  capital  of  Phyong  An  from 
221  to  193  B.C.  His  fall  was  an  indirect  conse- 
quence of  wars  in  the  North  of  China.  Yen,  a 
tributary  State  of  that  Empire,  coterminous  with 
Chosen,  from  which  it  was  separated  by  the  River 
Liao,  rose  in  rebellion  against  its  suzerain,  and  in  the 
wars  which  followed  and  culminated  in  the  total  defeat 
of  the  rebel  State,  many  of  its  inhabitants  sought 
refuge  from  the  invading  Chinese  armies  in  the  neigh- 
bouring kingdom  of  Chosen.  Among  them  was  one 
of  their  generals,  named  Wiman.  Coming  to  Korea 
a beaten  refugee,  he  was  kindly  received  by  the 


THE  DARK  AGES 


53 


King,  and  given  land  in  the  north  of  the  kingdom, 
whereon  he  established  himself  and  his  followers, 
where  he  promised  to  act  as  a frontier  guard.  He 
was,  however,  ambitious  and  treacherous.  He  had 
already  his  own  followers  ; there  were  many  of  his 
own  compatriots  who  had  preceded  him  in  his  flight 
and  were  already  settled  in  the  north,  and  from  the 
first  he  laid  himself  out  to  win  the  goodwill  of  the 
local  tribes.  When  he  felt  secure  in  his  strength, 
in  the  union  of  all  three — his  own  followers,  his 
countrymen  who  had  preceded  him,  and  the  local 
tribes — he  suddenly  marched  on  Phyong  An,  treacher- 
ously announcing  that  he  was  coming  to  guard  the 
capital  and  the  King  against  an  apocryphal  Chinese 
invasion.  Too  late  his  treachery  was  discovered. 
No  defence  could  be  made  against  him,  and  all  that 
was  left  for  the  last  of  the  Ki  Tse  dynasty  to  do 
was  to  find  personal  safety  in  flight  to  the  south  of 
the  peninsula,  while  Wiman  entered  Phyong  An  and 
proclaimed  himself  king  in  his  stead. 

Wiman’s  administration  was  vigorous  and  suc- 
cessful. fie  soon  procured  his  investiture  as  King 
from  the  Emperor  of  China,  who  seemed  not  only  to 
have  overlooked  the  fact  that  he  had  shortly  before 
been  a rebel,  but  to  have  now  sought  his  services  as 
a check  against  barbarian  inroads  to  his  own  Empire 
from  the  north.  Secure  in  his  position,  with  the 
moral  support  of  China  and  the  material  support  of 
his  own  army  of  adventurers,  he  considerably  en- 
larged the  original  Chosen  territory  and  was  able  to 
secure  the  succession  to  his  own  descendants.  But 
once  their  position  was  assured,  both  he  and  they,  in 
the  pride  of  their  triumph,  neglected  their  duty  as 
vassals  of  sending  tribute-bearing  missions  to  the 
Emperor,  and  no  one  went  from  their  dominions  “ to 
see  the  Emperor’s  face.”  During  the  reign  of  Wi- 
man’s grandson,  Yu  Ku,  a Chinese  envoy,  came  to 


54 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


his  capital  and  reproved  him  for  this  neglect  but 
without  result.  Yu  Ku  still  refused  to  fulfil  his 
duty,  and  the  envoy,  forced  to  return  without  accom- 
plishing his  mission,  and  vexed  at  his  failure,  when 
near  the  frontier  on  his  way  back  to  his  own  country, 
caused  his  charioteer  to  murder  the  Prince  to  whom 
Yu  Ku  had  deputed  the  task  of  courteously  escorting 
him.  Having  accomplished  this  treachery,  the  envoy 
hastily  crossed  the  frontier  and  reported  to  the 
Emperor  that  he  had  killed  a Korean  general,  and  for 
his  feat,  his  report  of  which  was  received  without 
question,  he  was  rewarded  with  the  appointment  of 
“ Protector  of  the  Eastern  Tribes  of  Liao  Tung.”  * 
At  this  time  the  kingdom  of  Korea  was  coterminous 
with  Liao  Tung  and  comprised  all  that  portion  of 
modern  Manchuria  that  extends  as  far  as  the  sources 
of  the  Sugari  as  well  as  the  three  northern  provinces 
of  modern  Korea,  its  boundaries  being  the  sea  on 
the  east  and  west  and  the  River  Han  on  the  south, 
and  all  the  tribes  throughout  this  great  extent  of 
territory  had  submitted  to  the  authority  of  Wiman 
and  his  successors.  Yu  Ku  could  therefore  call  to 
arms  a fighting  force,  powerful  in  numbers  and 
rendered  by  their  mode  of  life  as  nomads  and  hunters 
formidable  as  fighting  units.  With  such  means  at  his 
disposal,  it  was  not  likely  that  he  should  permit  the 
treacherous  murder  of  his  officer  and  relative  to  go 
unavenged.  He  promptly  gathered  his  army  and, 
marching  into  Liao  Tung,  attacked  and  killed  the 
“ Protector  of  the  Eastern  Tribes.”  By  this  action 
he  had  thrown  the  gauntlet  of  defiance  in  the  face 
of  the  Emperor — one  of  the  powerful  and  vigorous 
Han  dynasty — and  knew  he  would  have  to  pay  the 
penalty.  Withdrawing,  therefore,  at  once  to  his  own 
territories,  he  made  preparations  to  meet  the  invasion 
that  would  soon  be  on  him.  The  Emperor  sent  two 
' Parker,  “ Race  Struggles  in  Korea.” 


THE  DARK  AGES 


55 


forces  against  him.  One,  of  50,000  men,  commanded 
by  an  admiral,  was  sent  by  sea  from  Shantung  and 
consisted  of  men  of  that  province,  all  of  powerful 
physique  and  capable  of  great  endurance.  The  other, 
composed  of  Liao  Tung  men,  many  of  them  released 
criminals,  marched  by  land  under  the  command  of  a 
Lieutenant-general,  the  objective  of  both  being  Yi 
Ku’s  capital.  The  plans  of  the  invaders  were  badly 
laid,  and  instead  of  concentrating  simultaneously 
•before  the  capital,  as  did  three  Japanese  armies  in 
our  own  day  on  the  outbreak  of  the  China  war  with 
Japan  in  1894,  the  marine  force  appeared  first  by 
itself,  and  the  garrison  at  once  attacked  and  scattered 
it,  the  admiral  himself  being  obliged  to  fly  to  the 
mountains  and  ten  days  passing  before  he  was  able 
to  reassemble  his  fugitive  men.  The  general  was 
not  more  fortunate.  “ His  men  nearly  all  exposed 
themselves  to  the  penalty  of  decapitation  by  break- 
ing into  disorder  and  running  back  at  the  first  on- 
slaught,” * and  he  could  make  no  impression  on  the 
division  of  the  Korean  army  that  faced  him. 

Both  sides  were  now  at  a deadlock.  The  two  Chinese 
armies  were  in  Korea,  and  though  kept  at  bay  by  the 
victorious  Koreans  could  not  be  dislodged,  while  the 
Chinese  on  their  side  could  not  break  the  Korean 
resistance.  So  recourse  was  once  more  had  to 
diplomacy,  and  a second  envoy  was  sent  by  the 
Emperor  ‘‘  to  deliver  a lecture  to  Yu  Ku.”  The 
latter  professed  his  regret  for  what  had  passed  and 
his  readiness  to  tender  his  submission  as  vassal  to 
the  Emperor,  but  he  feared  that  the  officers  who 
represented  him  might  again  be  treacherously 
murdered  as  was  the  first.  Neither  side  could  trust 
the  other.  Yu  Ku  would  not  send  his  son,  who  was 
proposed  as  messenger,  within  the  Chinese  lines  with- 
out a strong  escort,  which  the  Chinese  would  not 
* Parker,  “ Race  Struggles  in  Korea.” 


56 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


admit.  So  the  negotiation  fell  through.  The  Chinese 
envoy,  having  reported  his  failure  to  the  Emperor, 
was  promptly  executed,  and  the  war  was  resumed. 

Both  Chinese  commanders  were  now  more  suc- 
cessful. The  general,  reinforced  by  troops  from 
Chihli  and  Shansi,  who  showed  more  courage  than 
the  released  criminals  from  Liao  Tung,  defeated  the 
Koreans,  and,  advancing  on  the  capital,  invested  it 
on  the  north,  while  the  admiral,  having  reorganised 
his  beaten  men,  co-operated  with  him  by  investing 
it  on  the  south.  The  relations  between  the  two 
were,  however,  not  cordial,  and  the  spirit  of  their 
two  armies  was  not  the  same.  One,  flushed  with 
recent  victory,  was  anxious  for  more  glory,  and  its 
commander  wished  to  press  the  siege  to  the  utmost. 
The  other  had  not  yet  recovered  from  its  first 
defeat,  and  its  admiral,  depressed  and  humiliated, 
sought  rather  to  come  to  terms  with  the  besieged. 
Between  the  two  nothing  was  done,  and  the  Koreans 
then,  as  now  and  ever  in  their  history,  fighting  stoutly 
behind  their  walls,  held  out  for  many  months. 
Wearied  with  the  long  delay,  the  Emperor  sent  a 
high  military  commissioner  with  full  powers  to  settle 
the  differences  between  the  two  commanders.  He 
accepted  the  general’s  explanation  that  the  weakness 
and  pusillanimity  of  the  admiral  were  the  cause  of 
the  long  delay,  and  that  they  must  eventuate,  if 
they  continued,  in  the  destruction  of  both  armies. 
So  the  admiral  was  placed  under  arrest,  and  the  siege 
continued  under  the  general.  Still  the  city  held 
out,  and  it  was  only  taken  at  last,  in  the  summer 
of  io8  B.C.,  when  Yu  Ku,  who  to  the  end  refused  to 
talk  of  surrender,  had  been  murdered  by  his  omti 
officers  and  the  gates  opened  by  the  murderers.  This 
was  the  end  of  the  ancient  kingdom  of  Chosen.  Its 
dominions  were  incorporated  into  the  Chinese  Empire 
and  divided  into  four  military  provinces  under 


THE  DARK  AGES 


57 


Chinese  governors,  and  for  over  a hundred  years  re- 
mained under  Chinese  domination.  The  fate  of  the 
two  military  commanders  who  had  contributed  to 
its  downfall  is  a curious  illustration  of  the  Chinese 
methods  of  dealing  with  their  officers.  The  weak 
and  timorous  admiral,  who  had  done  nothing  but 
thwart  the  designs  of  his  colleague,  was  sentenced 
to  death,  but  was  permitted  to  condone  the  death 
penalty  by  a fine  and  reduction  to  the  rank  of  com- 
moners. The  general,  who  had  won  victories,  who 
had  vigorously  endeavoured  to  hasten  the  siege,  and 
had,  throughout  all  the  campaign,  the  confidence  of 
his  men,  was  on  his  return  to  his  own  capital  “ con- 
victed of  desire  for  glorification,  jealousy,  and 
•wrong-headed  strategy,  and  was  cut  to  pieces  in 
the  market-place.”  ‘ 

The  northern  boundaries  of  old  Chosen  are  not 
clearly  known,  and  were  probably  never  delineated 
while  the  kingdom  existed.  Beyond  them,  the  vast 
plains  of  Manchuria  were  inhabited  by  numbers  of 
tribes  who,  in  the  last  century  preceding  the  Christian 
era,  began  to  organise  themselves  into  petty  States. 
While  professing  a nominal  allegiance  to  the  Emperor 
of  China,  these  States  were  perfectly  independent  in 
both  their  internal  and  external  administration, 
governing  themselves  and  making  war  on  or  alliances 
with  each  other  as  they  pleased,  without  reference 
to  their  suzerain.  One  of  them,  lying  immediately  to 
the  south  of  the  River  Sungari,  was  called  Puyu, 
and  was  said,  as  already  mentioned  in  this  chapter, 
to  have  been  founded  in  the  Dark  Ages  by  the 
son  of  the  mythical  Tan  Gun.  North,  and  separated 
from  it  by  the  Sungari,  was  another  tribe  or 
State,  which  found  its  home  in  the  delta  formed 
by  the  Rivers  Sungari  and  Amur  to  the  west  of 
their  junction,  and  was  called  Korai  or  Kaoli, 
* Parker,  “ Race  Struggles  in  Korea.” 


58 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


but  the  time  at  which  it  existed  was  so  ancient  “ that 
even  the  Chinese  historians  mention  it  with  a degree 
of  scepticism.”  While  the  chief  of  this  barbarian 
tribe  was  once  absent,  on  a hunting  excursion,  one 
of  his  damsels  was  found  to  be  with  child.  She 
said  that  she  had  seen  in  the  sky  a vapour  as 
large  as  an  egg  which  descended  on  her,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  she  conceived.  The  chief,  who 
had  at  first  meditated  killing  her,  on  hearing  this 
explanation  of  her  condition,  put  her  in  prison,  where 
a son  was  born  to  her  in  due  course  of  time.  The 
chief  was  equally  afraid  to  kill  or  preserve  a child 
so  miraculously  born,  and  it  was  by  his  orders  throwm 
to  the  pigs,  but  the  pigs  breathed  upon  it  and  kept 
it  alive.  Then  it  was  throwm  among  the  horses, 
but  they  did  as  the  pigs  had  done,  and  so  the  babe 
still  lived,  and  the  chief,  now  convinced  that  it  was 
of  supernatural  birth,  restored  it  to  its  mother.  It 
was  named  Tung  Ming  (Eastern  Brightness),  and 
when  the  babe  grew  up  a brave  youth  and  a skilful 
archer,  the  old  chief  became  jealous  of  him  and 
sought  to  slay  him.  Then  the  youth  fled  southwards 
until  he  found  himself  stopped  by  the  river.  In 
despair,  he  shot  his  arrows  into  the  water,  when 
all  the  fish  and  tortoises  of  the  river  came  to  the 
surface,  and,  crowding  together  to  avoid  his  arrows, 
formed  with  their  backs  a bridge  upon  which  he 
crossed  in  safety.  He  was  now  in  Puyu  and  became 
its  king.  The  people  of  Puyu  had  already  emerged 
from  barbarism  ; their  home  was  in  the  largest 
of  the  Eastern  plains,  which  were  rich  and  fertile 
and  produced  the  five  cereals  in  abundance,  and 
they  had  many  of  the  elements  of  primitive 
civilisation. 

“They  had  circular  stockades  in  place  of  city  walls,  palace 
buildings,  granaries,  stores,  and  prisons.  They  were  of  an  uncouth, 
robust,  and  hardy  habit,  and  yet  scrupulously  honest  and  not  given 


THE  DARK  AGES 


59 


to  plundering  raids.  In  eating  and  drinking  they  used  dishes  and 
platters,  and  when  they  met  together  they  observed  the  etiquette  of 
the  table.  They  were  wont  to  be  severe  in  their  punishments  and 
the  household  of  the  condemned  were  always  relegated  to  slavery. 
Robberies  were  visited  with  twelvefold  amercement.  Lewdness 
was  punished  with  the  death  of  both  man  and  woman,  and  they 
were  particularly  severe  on  jealous  wives.  If  the  elder  brother  died, 
the  younger  married  his  sister-in-law.  Homicides  were  kept  for 
burying  alive  at  funerals,  sometimes  a whole  hundred  of  them  being 
used.”  ’ 

From  this  tribe,  after  many  generations  from  Tung 
Ming’s  reign  had  passed,  about  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  era,  some  families  moved  southwards 
under  the  leadership  of  a chief  named  Kao  and  settled 
themselves  among  the  valleys  and  mountains  in  the 
land  which  now  forms  the  south-western  part  of  the 
modern  Chinese  province  of  Kirin.  There  they 
founded,  in  the  year  37  B.C.,  a new  nation,  to  which 
they  gave  the  name  of  Kao-Kaoli,  a combination 
formed  of  the  name  of  their  leader  and  that  of  the 
country  in  the  far-away  north  from  which  the  King 
of  Pu>oi,  the  ancestor  of  their  own  leader,  had  fled. 
The  new  State  was  at  first  as  insignificant  in  influence 
as  it  was  in  the  number  of  its  people,  and  when 
Chosen  was  governed  by  China,  it  was  included 
in  one  of  the  four  military  provinces  into  which 
Chosen  was  divided  for  administrative  purposes.  But 
it  quickly  grew  in  strength  and  aggressiveness,  and 
before  a century  had  passed  it  had  become  a formid- 
able power  which  threatened  even  the  safety  and 
peace  of  Liao  Tung,  while  it  had  also  absorbed 
all  the  country  which  lay  to  its  east  and  extended  to 
the  sea.  Its  population  was  rapidly  increased  by 
refugees  from  the  miseries  of  anarchy  in  China,  and 
it  became  a powerful  political  and  military  factor 
in  the  wars  which  were  continually  taking  place  on 

‘ Parker,  “ Race  Struggles  in  Korea.” 


60 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


the  northern  frontier  of  China.  During  these  wars 
Kao-Kaoli  steadily  pursued  its  conquering  career 
westwards,  and,  though  more  slowly,  southwards 
across  the  River  Yalu  and  into  the  peninsula,  and 
before  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  century  it  was  recog- 
nised as  a powerful  kingdom  and  a highly  valued 
tributary  of  the  empire,  extending  from  the  River 
Tatong  on  the  south  to  the  River  Liao  on  its  west, 
and  comprising  all  the  territory  that  constituted  the 
old  Chosen.  The  prefix  was  dropped  from  its 
original  name,  and  it  became  known  simply  as 
Kaoli,  or  to  use  the  pronunciation  employed  by  the 
people  themselves,  Korai.  Before  telling  its  story, 
we  must  turn  aside  for  a while  to  describe  the 
southern  part  of  the  peninsula  and  its  people. 

It  has  been  already  told  how  Kijun,  the  last  of  the 
Ki  Tse,  when  driven  from  his  capital  by  the 
treacherous  Wiman,  fled  to  the  south.  At  this  time 
the  peninsula  south  of  the  River  Tatong  was 
divided  into  three  districts  called  Han,  and  distin- 
guished as  Ma-han,  Ben-han,  and  Shin-han,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  first  of  which  differed  in  language 
and  customs  from  the  other  two.  Although  the  latter 
lived  together  promiscuously,  they  presented  some 
minor  differences  among  themselves,  and  all  three 
differed  so  fundamentally  from  the  northerns  of 
Korai,  that  it  has  been  assumed  that  their  origin,  of 
which  nothing  definite  is  knowm,  is  to  be  looked 
for  in  Southern  Asia,  whence  they  migrated  to  Korea 
by  sea,  while  that  of  the  northerns  is,  as  has  been 
seen,  looked  for  among  the  nomadic  tribes  of  the 
plains  of  Manchuria.  Each  district  was  formed  of 
a congery  of  tribes,  those  of  Ma-han  numbering 
fifty-four  and  the  other  two  twelve  each,  and  not 
even  those  in  the  same  district  were  united  under  any 
one  central  and  predominant  authority.  Any  indica- 
tion as  to  the  geographical  limits  of  each  district 


THE  DARK  AGES 


61 


“THE  THREE  HAN.” 


62 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


can  only  be  based  on  pure  conjecture,  and  all  that 
can  be  safely  said  in  this  respect  is  that  Ma-han 
was  on  the  west-central  coast  of  the  peninsula, 
probably  occupying  the  whole  of  the  province  of 
Chhung-Chyong  and  part  of  Cholla,  Ben-han  on  the 
south,  and  Shin-han  on  the  east.  It  was  among 
the  Ma-han  that  Kijun,  landing  at  what  is  now 
Iksan,  took  refuge,  and  he  was  accompanied  by  a 
band  of  followers  sufficiently  strong  to  enable  him 
to  assume  authority  over  all  the  tribes  who  had  no 
union  among  themselves  and  were  less  vigorous  and 
far  less  civilised  than  the  northern  refugees.  His 
own  reign  over  them  was,  however,  of  short  duration, 
he  and  his  son  being  destroyed  by  the  people,  but 
his  descendants  continued  to  rule  till  i6  B.C. 

The  civilisation  of  all  three  districts  was  of  a lower 
order  than  that  of  the  people  of  the  north.  The 
Ma-han  were  acquainted,  however,  with  tillage, 
sericulture,  and  weaving. 

“ They  lived  in  mixed  settlements  and  had  no  cities.  They  built 
their  houses  of  mud,  in  shape  like  a grave-mound,  with  an  opening 
or  door  at  the  top.  They  were  not  acquainted  with  the  kneehng 
form  of  obeisance,  and  drew  no  distinction  of  age  or  sex.  They 
did  not  value  gold,  jewels,  embroidery,  or  rugs,  were  ignorant  of  the 
way  to  ride  oxen  or  horses,  and  only  esteemed  pebbles  and  pearls  as 
ornaments  for  setting  off  their  garments,  and  as  necklaces  and  ear- 
drops. The  majority  had  no  head-covering  beyond  their  coiled 
chignons,  cloth  robes,  and  straw  sandals.  The  people  were  robust 
and  brave,  and  the  young  men,  when  exerting  themselves  to  build 
a house,  would  take  a rope  and  run  it  through  the  skin  of  the  back, 
and  trail  a huge  log  by  it,  amid  cheers  for  their  sturdiness.  After 
the  cultivation  was  finished  in  the  fifth  moon,  they  always  worshipped 
the  spiritual  powers,  and  had  a drinking  bout,  day  and  night, 
assembling  in  groups  to  dance  and  sing,  when  several  dozen  men 
would  follow  each  other  in  keeping  time  by  stamping  on  the 
ground."  * 


• Parker,  “ Race  Struggles  in  Korea." 


THE  DARK  AGES 


63 


Settled  among  the  Ma-han  tribes,  and  so  assimi- 
lated as  to  form  with  them  one  of  the  fifty-four 
tribes,  was  a colony  descended  from  Chinese  refugees, 
who  had  crossed  from  China  at  some  remote  period, 
and  who,  from  the  number  of  their  party,  which 
their  traditions  put  at  ten  barons  and  their  followers, 
were  called  Pekche,  or  “ the  hundred  crossers,”  the 
larger  number  being  taken  instead  of  ten  to  mark 
the  fidelity  of  the  followers.  It  was  among  this 
particular  tribe  that  Kijun  found  his  home.  The 
tribes,  both  on  the  east  and  on  the  west,  in  the 
progress  of  time  combined  and  formed  two  nations. 
That  on  the  west,  formed  of  the  Ma-han,  assumed 
the  name  of  Pekche,  originally  only  that  of  one  alien 
settlement  among  them.  The  other  two  Han  united 
into  one  nation,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of 
Shinra.  We  have  now  arrived  at  the  formation  of 
the  three  independent  kingdoms  among  which  Korea 
was  divided  during  the  first  six  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era  : Korai,  or  Kaoli,  on  the  north,  known 
as  Koma  to  the  Japanese,  founded  in  35  B.C.,  and 
comprising  all  the  north-west  of  the  peninsula  and 
a great  part  of  what  is  now  Manchuria  ; Pekche, 
called  by  the  Koreans  Baiji  and  by  the  Japanese 
Kudara,  occupying  all  the  west  as  far  north  as  the 
River  Tatong,  tracing  its  foundation  back  to  the  year 
16  B.C.  ; and  Shinra,  subsequently  euphonised  into 
Silla,  called  by  the  Japanese  Shiragi,  occupying  the 
whole  of  the  east  coast  as  far  north  as  the  Korai 
boundary,  the  precise  location  of  which  is  impos- 
sible to  fix,  and  dating  its  foundation  as  a united  State 
from  the  year  57  B.C.  In  the  south  of  the  peninsula, 
a few  tribes  managed  to  preserve  their  independence 
against  both  Pekche  and  Silla  for  a few  centuries, 
and  to  form  a confederacy  which  they  called  the 
kingdom  of  Karak.  It  was  originally  not  inferior 
in  the  extent  of  its  dominions  to  Silla,  but  as  time 


64 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


went  on  it  was  gradually  absorbed  by  the  latter, 
the  last  part  of  it  to  survive  being  the  State  known 
to  the  Japanese  as  Imna  or  Mimana,  which  even- 
tually became  what  might  not  be  improperly  termed 
a Japanese  protectorate  or  residency,  and  was  men- 
tioned by  the  Japanese  historians  as  a “ Miyake  ” or 
“ State  granary.”  It  lay  as  a blunt  wedge  on  the 
south  coast  between  the  southern  parts  of  Silla  and 
Pekche. 


CHAPTER  IV 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  THREE  KINGDOMS 

For  the  first  six  hundred  years  of  the  Christian  era  the 
history  of  Korea  is  the  history  of  the  three  kingdoms, 
and  for  four  hundred  years  more  it  is  that  of  Silla, 
which  survived  the  other  two  and  became  virtually 
the  first  unifier  of  the  peninsula.  The  story  is  one, 
on  the  one  side  of  constant  wars,  either  between  the 
kingdoms  themselves  or  with  China,  or  again  to  a 
minor  degree  with  Japan,  and  on  the  other  side 
of  material  progress  which  culminated,  under  the 
influence  of  China  and  of  Buddhism,  in  so  high  a 
degree  of  civilisation  that  it  enabled  Korea  in  her 
turn  to  become  the  civiliser  of  Japan  and  the 
initiator  in  that  empire  of  a campaign  of  missionary 
propagandism  which  is  perhaps  the  most  successful 
that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  its  harvest  consisting, 
not  of  individual  converts,  however  numerous,  the 
highest  reward  of  their  labours  that  has  been  won 
by  the  greatest  Christian  missionaries,  but  of  a whole 
I nation  from  its  Sovereign  downwards. 

^ The  history  of  the  three  kingdoms  is  told  at  length 
and  with  full  details  in  Mr.  Hulbert’s  “ History  of 
I Korea,”  and  it  teems  with  interesting  and  romantic 
I incidents  which  well  bear  attentive  reading  ; but  the 
limits  of  our  space  forbid  us  to  include  in  our  story 
j more  than  its  briefest  outlines,  and  even  these  we 
; shall  confine  mainly  to  their  foreign  relations  with 
China  on  the  one  side  and  Japan  on  the  other, 

; 5 65 


66 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


referring  our  readers  who  desire  to  follow  or  to  learn 
the  internal  affairs,  the  stories  of  individuals  whose 
names  have  been  preserved  by  Chinese  and  Korean 
historians  and  romancists,  to  Mr.  Hulbert’s  graphic 
and  scholarly  pages.*  Each  kingdom  had  a long 
line  of  kings  of  varying  characters  and  fortunes, 
who  worked  weal  or  woe  to  their  countries,  some  of 
whom  fell  beneath  assassin’s  knives,  while  others, 
deposed  or  defeated,  died  by  their  own  hands  ; some 
leaving  behind  them  the  memories  of  strong  and 
efficient  government,  which  brought  nothing  but  good 
to  their  subjects  ; others  those  of  merciless  tyrants, 
sunk  in  debauchery  and  cruelty,  whose  memories 
are  akin  to  those  of  Nero  and  Caligula.  Each  had 
its  episodes  of  national  triumph  and  reverse,  its 
incidents  of  heroic  fortitude  and  craven  submission, 
amidst  which  all  steadily  progressed  on  the  paths 
of  learning,  art,  and  industry  ; each  received  its 
teachers  and  missionaries  from  China,  and  gave 
refuge  to  immigrants  who  came  thence  in  thousands 
as  fugitives,  and  gladly  absorbed  them  in  the  ranks 
of  its  own  population  ; each  preserved  throughout 
its  history  the  characteristics  that  had  marked  its 
origin. 

Each  contributed  in  its  turn  to  the  stream  of  emi- 
grants that  poured  from  the  j>eninsula  into  Japan, 
bringing  with  them  all  that  they  themselves  had  learnt 
from  China,  and  assisted  in  laying  the  foundations  of 
the  systems  of  religion,  statecraft  and  literature, 
science,  and  social  life  which  formed  the  civilisation 
of  Japan  for  more  than  twelve  hundred  years,  and 
was  only  replaced  in  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century  by  the  higher  civilisation  of  Europe. 

Korai  was  always  warlike,  always  on  the  watch  for 

* The  material  in  this  chapter  is  to  a considerable  degree  founded 
on  Dr.  Aston’s  translation  of  the  “Nihongi,”  Mr.  Parker’s  “Race 
Struggles  in  Korea,”  and  the  Rev.  John  Ross’s  “ History  of  Korea.” 


STORY  OF  THREE  KINGDOMS  67 


THE  THREE  KINGDOMS 


68 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


opportunities  to  display  its  arms  either  against  China 
or  its  neighbours  in  the  peninsula,  its  people  retaining 
to  the  last  the  fighting  spirit  of  their  savage  ancestors 
in  Manchuria.  All  its  story  is  closely  associated  with 
that  of  China.  For  over  five  hundred  years  from  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  era  the  whole  of  China 
was  plunged  in  anarchy.  Civil  war  between  rival 
emperors,  of  whom  there  were  never  less  than  three  j* 
at  one  time  (and  at  one  period  there  were  no  less 
than  seventeen),  never  ended,  and  it  was  not  until 
the  year  587  that  the  Emperor  Swi  succeeded  in 
bringing  all  the  empire  beneath  the  sway  of  his 
own  throne.  Korai  grew  into  a formidable  power, 
largely  at  China’s  cost,  taking  advantage  of  the  dis- 
orders on  the  northern  frontier  of  the  empire  and  of 
its  internal  anarchy  to  absorb  in  her  own  territories 
districts  that  had  long  acknowledged  China’s 
suzerainty,  and  increasing  her  own  population  by 
throwing  open  the  country  as  an  asylum  for  Chinese 
refugees  who  fled  to  escape  the  miseries  and  dangers 
from  which  they  were  never  free  in  the  civil  wars 
of  their  own  lands.  When  she  had  made  herself 
recognised  as  a strong  military  factor  she  was  in 
turns  courted  as  an  ally  by  the  rival  dynasties  who 
contended  for  the  Imperial  throne,  or  her  punish- 
ment attempted  by  the  successful  aspirants  for  that 
dignity  whom  she  had  opposed  or  before  whom 
she  refused  to  bow  in  their  hours  of  triumph. 

Her  greatest  struggle  with  China  began  at  the 
close  of  the  sixth  century.  It  was  then  that  the 
Tsin  was  replaced  by  the  Swi  dynasty  of  emperors 
on  the  Chinese  throne,  and  Korai,  which  had  been 
on  friendly  terms  with  the  old,  was  naturally  not  very 
prompt  in  recognising  the  new  dynasty,  or  in  respond- 
ing to  the  friendly  overtures  made  by  it,  while  her 
southern  rivals,  on  the  other  hand,  were  as  urgent  as 
she  was  the  reverse  in  conciliating  the  goodwill  of 


STORY  OF  THREE  KINGDOMS  69 


the  new  occupants  of  the  Dragon  throne.  Silla  had 
now  grown  greatly  in  influence  and  strength.  She 
had  conquered  part  of  the  Pekche  territories,  and 
had  absorbed  all  of  the  old  kingdom  of  Karak,  and 
while  still  devoting  herself  mainly  to  internal  affairs 
and  industrial  progress,  had  not  neglected  the 
development  of  her  military  strength.  She  had  also 
made  Korea’s  first  essays  in  the  construction  of  a 
navy,  which  had  been  already  tested  against  Japanese 
pirates.  Pekche,  though  shorn  of  much  of  her  old 
territory  by  both  Korai  and  Silla,  had  shown  her 
military  prowess  by  repelling  a Chinese  army  which 
had  landed  on  her  shores  to  enforce  the  payment  of 
tribute.  Neither,  nor  both  together,  were  a match 
for  their  northern  neighbour,  to  which,  throughout 
all  its  history,  fighting  had  been  second  nature,  and 
both  eagerly  stimulated  the  ill-will  of  the  Chinese 
Emperor  against  it,  and  proffered  their  alliance  in 
whatever  operations  he  might  undertake  to  vindicate 
his  offended  dignity.  Both  fondly  hoped  that  the 
time  had  come  in  which  they  would  be  relieved  for 
ever  from  their  old  enemy. 

Korai  knew  of  the  plot  that  was  formed  against 
her,  and  anticipated  an  invasion  of  her  own  territories 
by  dispatching  an  expedition  of  10,000  men  across 
the  River  Liao,  which,  after  having  spread  devasta- 
tion throughout  what  is  now  the  province  of  Chi-li 
as  far  as  the  Great  Wall,  retreated  to  its  own  country 
in  safety.  The  Emperor,  undisputed  master  of  all 
China,  saw  in  this  buccaneering  expedition  only  a 
valid  excuse  for  the  conquest  and  annexation  of 
Korai  ; and,  never  doubting  that  the  little  mountain 
Power  would  fall  at  once  before  the  might  of  China, 
he  sent  an  army  of  300,000  men  to  the  northern 
frontier  and  simultaneously  a powerful  fleet  to  the 
River  Tatong,  on  which  was  the  Koraian  capital, 
Phyong  An,  thus  following  the  strategy  of  six 


70 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


hundred  years  previously.  But  both  expeditions  met 
with  disaster,  and  the  Koraians  were  scarcely  called 
upon  to  fight  in  their  own  defence.  Storms  at  sea 
broke  up  and  destroyed  the  naval  force  before  it 
had  even  reached  the  shores  of  Korea.  That  sent  by 
land  was  equally  unfortunate,  though  its  misfortunes 
were  due  more  to  the  want  of  ordinary  foresight 
than  to  Nature.  It  was  at  the  height  of  the  hot 
summer  that  the  army  reached  the  River  Liao,  the 
frontier  of  Korai.  The  heavy  summer  rains  were  at 
their  worst  and  rendered  the  roads  impassable  for 
the  provision-carts,  and  the  army  was  so  ill- 
provisioned  and  equipped  that  it  perished  of  disease 
and  hunger  almost  before  it  even  saw  a Koraian 
enemy.  The  Emperor  accepted  his  defeat — it  was 
in  the  year  598 — for  the  time,  but  it  was  only  that 
he  might  make  preparations  which  would  secure  an 
ample  revenge  in  the  future. 

Before  the  opportunity  came  he  died,  but  the 
legacy  of  revenge  was  readily  accepted  by  his  suc- 
cessor, the  great  Emperor  Yang,  one  of  the  boldest 
and  ablest  emperors,  but  at  the  same  time  one  of 
the  cruellest  and  most  tyrannical,  who  has  sat  on  the 
throne  of  China.  His  councillors  and  people  had  no 
sympathy  in  his  designs  of  conquest,  for,  though 
there  was  peace,  there  was  great  distress  within  the 
Empire,  which  had  not  yet  recovered  from  the  desola- 
tion of  the  civil  wars  and  was  now  suffering  from 
famine  ; and  the  costly  preparations  for  the  great 
expedition  that  the  Emperor  meditated  were  a burden 
greater  than  could  be  borne,  necessitating  as  they 
did,  among  other  things,  the  taking  away  of  ,the 
little  food  the  people  had  to  fill  the  military  granaries. 
But  the  determined  Emperor  silenced  the  opposition 
by  a proclamation  in  which  it  was  plainly  declared, 
in  very  few  words,  that  whosoever  presumed  to  criti- 
cise or  oppose  his  intentions  should  do  so  at  the 


STORY  OF  THREE  KINGDOMS  71 


expense  of  his  head.  In  6ii  all  the  preparations 
were  completed.  Then  an  invading  force  started  on 
its  way  to  Korai,  the  magnitude  of  which  was  such 
that  it  has  been  compared  to  that  of  Xerxes.  It 
consisted  of  twenty-four  divisions,  and  its  numbers 
exceeded  1,100,000  men.  When  on  its  march  it 
extended  in  an  unbroken  line  for  over  320  miles, 
and  it  took  forty  days  to  pass  any  given  point  pn 
the  road.*  At  the  same  time,  according  to  the  old 
precedent,  a naval  force  was  dispatched  to  the  River 
Tatong  to  attack  Phyong  An  in  the  rear.  It  was 
little  less  imposing  in  its  magnitude  than  the  army. 
The  ships  covered  the  whole  sea  between  the  coasts 
of  Korea  and  Shantung.  The  army  had  been  raised 
in  and  at  the  expense  of  North  China.  The  burthen 
of  the  navy  was  thrown  on  the  south,  where  the 
suffering  caused  by  its  preparation  was  scarcely  less 
than  in  the  north.  But  nothing  stood  in  the  way  of 
the  iron  will  of  the  Emperor. 

In  nowise  daunted,  the  Koraians  bravely  awaited 
their  invaders  on  the  left  bank  of  the  River  Liao. 
Three  bridges  were  thrown  across  the  river  by  the 
Chinese  engineers,  but  they  fell  short  by  i o feet  of 
the  opposite  bank  ; and  when  the  soldiers,  who  had 
crowded  on  to  the  unfinished  bridge,  tried  to  leap 
from  its  end  to  the  east  bank  or  to  wade  or  swim 
through  the  swift  current,  they  were  drowned  in 
thousands  or  cut  down  as  they  endeavoured  to  fight 
their  way  to  the  steep  bank.  It  took  two  days  to 
remedy  the  first  error,  but  when  the  bridge  onoe 
touched  the  bank  overwhelming  numbers  drove  the 
Koraians  before  them  in  headlong  rout,  more  tlian 
10,000  being  left  dead  on  the  field  before  the  sur- 
vivors found  sanctuary  behind  the  walls  of  the  city  of 
Liao  Yang.  At  Phyong  An  the  defenders  were  more 
fortunate.  .When  the  Chinese  landed  from  the  fleet, 
' Ross,  “ History  of  Korea,”  p.  134. 


72 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


they  at  first  gained  a victory  over  the  army  they 
found  on  their  front,  but,  pursuing  the  retreating 
enemy  too  recklessly,  they  fell  into  an  ambush  on 
both  sides  and  were  driven  back,  with  great  loss, 
to  their  ships.  They  were  still  too  strong,  notwith- 
standing all  they  had  lost,  to  justify  the  Koraians  in 
following  up  their  victory  by  an  attack  on  the  ships, 
but  the  heart  of  the  invaders  was  gone  ; they  did  not 
even  co-operate  with  the  Northern  army  when  it 
afterwards  invested  the  city.  The  Koraians  beaten 
at  the  banks  of  the  Liao  were  different  men  when 
behind  the  lofty  walls  of  their  city  of  Liao  Yang, 
and  all  the  efforts  of  the  Chinese  to  take  the  city 
were  repulsed.  Its  siege  lasted  for  several  months  ; 
and  as  there  was  no  sign  of  yielding  on  the  part  of 
the  garrison,  the  main  portion  of  the  great  army 
continued  its  march,  leaving  a sufficient  force  behind 
to  continue  the  investment. 

It  was  in  early  spring  that  the  expedition  started 
on  its  way  from  China  ; it  was  not  until  autumn  that 
it  reached  the  banks  of  the  Yalu.  Thence  a division 
of  305,000  men  made  a forced  march  to  Phyong  An, 
the  Koraians  retreating  before  it  as  it  advanced,  and 
at  last  was  in  striking  distance  of  the  city  ; but  it 
was  exhausted  by  its  rapid  march  and  was  short  of 
provisions.  Before  it  started,  rations  for  one  hundred 
days  had  been  issued  to  each  man,  to  be  carried  by 
himself,  and  warning  was  given  that  any  one  found 
throwing  away  his  rations  would  be  beheaded.  But, 
even  with  this  penalty  before  them  in  case  of  dis- 
covery, the  weight  of  such  a burthen  in  a forced 
march  proved  too  great  a temptation  to  the  men,  and 
their  stores  were  wellnigh  exhausted  long  before  they 
reached  Phyong  An.  The  commander  was  therefore 
not  very  anxious  to  begin  an  assault  on  a city, 
strongly  fortified,  which  from  old  experience  he  knew 
would  be  vigorously  met  by  the  enemy  fighting 


VII.LACiE  MiAE  I’HYONG  AX. 


STORY  OF  THREE  KINGDOMS  73 


behind  their  walls  ; and  he  readily  listened  to  and 
accepted  an  offer  of  submission  that  was  tendered  to 
him  by  the  Koraian  General,  which,  though  the  city 
remained  intact,  would,  he  thought,  save  his  face 
before  the  Emperor.  But  the  submission  was  only 
feigned.  The  moment  the  Chinese  commenced  their 
return  march  they  were  attacked  by  skirmishers  who 
appeared  everywhere  at  once,  on  both  flanks  and  on 
their  rear  ; and  when  half  the  retreating  army  had 
crossed  the  River  Chin  Chin,  ten  miles  to  the  north 
of  Phyong  An,  the  Koraians’  main  army,  en  masse, 
fell  on  and  almost  annihilated  the  other  half  that 
was  still  on  the  southern  bank.  The  retreat  then 
degenerated  into  a panic-struck  rout,  the  pursuers 
slaughtering  the  broken  and  starving  fugitives 
throughout  the  whole  length  ; and  of  the  great  dis- 
ciplined army  of  305,000  men  who  had  originally 
crossed  the  Yalu,  less  than  3,000  survived  to  recross 
it  and  at  last  find  safety  with  the  army  on  the 
northern  bank. 

This  was  still  strong  enough  to  have  carried  out 
a second  invasion,  but  winter  was  now  drawing  near 
and  the  Chinese  were  ill-provided  with  the  require- 
ments of  a winter  campaign  ; so  a general  retreat 
was  ordered,  and  the  great  army  withdrew  across  the 
River  Liao,  there  to  await  the  following  spring.  Next 
year  the  ambition  of  the  Emperor  was  limited  to  the 
conquest  of  Liaotung,  but  while  he  was  engaged  in 
it  news  came  to  him  of  a serious  rebellion  in  his  own 
dominions,  and  his  army  could  no  longer  be  spared 
for  foreign  conquest.  The  chief  incident  of  the 
second  campaign  was  the  renewal  of  the  siege  of 
the  city  of  Liaotung.  It  was  valiantly  defended  by 
the  Koraians — every  device  that  engineering  skill 
could  suggest,  scaling  ladders  and  high  towers, 
pushed  to  the  walls  on  wheels,  “ cloud  ladders  and 
flying  towers,”  were  tried,  but  the  obstinacy  and 


74 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


valour  of  the  Koraians  were  proof  against  all,  and  the 
city  was  still  safe  in  their  hands  when  the  retreat 
began.  The  siege  was  directed  by  the  Emperor  in 
person  : 

“ He  had  just  completed  an  earthen  rampart,  sixty  paces  wide, 
close  to  and  flush  with  the  city  wall,  and  a high-storied  movable 
tower  on  eight  w’heels,  higher  than  the  city  walls,  whence  missiles 
could  be  thrown  down  into  the  city,  and  these  were  about  to  be  put 
in  action,  when  a breathless  messenger  hurried  into  the  camp  at 
night  and  brought  the  news  of  a rebellion  which  threatened  the  Swi 
capital  with  a large  volunteer  army.”  * 

The  Emperor  ordered  an  immediate  retreat, 
abandoning  his  camp  as  it  stood  ; and  the  retreat 
was  so  well  carried  out  that  three  days  passed  before 
the  Koraians  discovered  that  the  siege  was  over. 
Famine  and  rebellions  in  China  prevented  any 
resumption  of  hostilities  on  her  part,  and  four  years 
later  the  Swi  dynasty  fell  and  Korai  was  able  to 
make  peace  with  the  new  Tang  dynasty,  to  which  she 
gave  her  allegiance  and  returned  all  the  surviving 
captives  of  the  war. 

The  Imperial  dynasty  of  the  Tangs,  one  of  the 
few  dynasties  that,  in  the  early  years  of  history, 
ruled  the  whole  Chinese  Empire  and  held  their 
dominions  in  a firm  grasp,  began  to  reign  in  the  early 
part  of  the  seventh  century,  and  as  the  fruitless 
and  costly  invasions  of  Korai  had  contributed  much  to 
the  downfall  of  their  predecessors,  the  policy  of  the 
new  Emperor  was  naturally  devoted  to  Korean 
affairs,  with  the  aim  of  weakening  the  northern  king- 
dom, which,  comparatively  insignificant  as  it  was, 
had  sho^vn  itself  throughout  its  history  a most 
truculent  vassal  and  an  aggressive  neighbour  of  its 
suzerain.  The  relations  between  the  great  Empire 
and  the  little  kingdom,  peopled  by  hardy  moun- 

' Ross,  “ History  of  Korea,”  p.  141. 


STORY  OF  THREE  KINGDOMS  75 


taineers,  full  of  the  spirit  of  independence  and  of 
the  pride  of  arms,  resembled  those  between  the 
Austrian  Empire  and  Switzerland  in  the  thirteenth 
and  fourteenth  centuries,  or  between  the  Spanish 
Kingdom  and  England  at  a later  period.  It  seemed 
as  if  the  great  Colossus  had  only  to  stretch  out  its 
hand  to  crush  the  pigmy  which  was  constantly  in- 
flicting irritating  pin-pricks  in  its  huge  body,  but 
each  time  it  had  done  so  it  had  found  that  the  pigmy, 
by  its  energy  and  courage,  aided  by  its  natural 
defences,  was  well  able  to  hold  its  own.  The 
southern  kingdom  of  Silla,  devoted  principally,  as 
it  had  always  been,  to  industrial  progress,  had  now 
become  a military  power,  sufficiently  strong  to 
deserve  consideration  as  an  ally,  and  the  new 
Emperor  of  China,  as  ambitious  but  more  prudent 
than  his  predecessors,  laid  himself  out  to  strengthen 
Silla,  to  aid  her  in  the  conquest  and  annexation  of 
the  other  southern  kingdom  of  Pekche,  so  that  in  the 
end  the  whole  strength  of  Southern  Korea  might  be 
available  for  attacking  Korai  on  the  south  while 
China  herself  assailed  it  on  the  north.  Silla,  on  her 
side,  used  all  the  arts  of  diplomacy,  in  which  she  was 
well  skilled,  to  flatter  the  pride  of  the  Emperor  and 
to  conciliate  his  goodwill.  She  adopted  the  Chinese 
calendar,  the  greatest  proof  she  could  give,  accord- 
ing to  Oriental  ideas,  of  her  recognition  of  her 
suzerain,  and  the  Chinese  Court  dress.  The  religion 
and  literature  of  China  she  had  already  adopted,  and 
her  practice  and  study  of  both  now  became  more 
eager  than  before,  while  her  embassies  to  the  Imperial 
Court  were  more  frequent  and  the  tribute  they  carried 
costly. 

At  this  period  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the 
heroes  of  Old  Korea  appeared  on  the  scenes.  In  the 
year  637  Hoh  Su  Wen,  a Koraian  soldier,  murdered 
the  reigning  king  with  his  own  hand,  and  having 


76 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


placed  the  nephew  of  the  dead  monarch  on  the  throne, 
became  himself  the  de  facto  ruler  of  the  kingdom. 
He  was  a man  of  keen  ability,  and,  in  addition,  a 
combination  not  very  common  in  the  East  or  else- 
where, of  immense  physical  strength  and  great 
personal  stature.  He  emphasised  his  natural  personal 
attractions  by  wearing  the  finest  armour  and  apparel, 
and  so  great  was  the  impression  made  by  him  on 
his  own  soldiers  “ that  they  hardly  dared  to  look 
up  into  his  face.”  • Ostensibly  to  recover  some  out- 
lying districts  which  were  claimed  by  Korai,  but  had 
been  seized  and  were  in  possession  of  Silla,  but 
more  probably  to  divert  the  attention  of  his  o\vn 
people  from  internal  affairs  and  his  o\vti  crimes  and 
tyrannical  usurpation  of  the  executive,  Hoh  Su  Wen 
declared  war  and  invaded  Silla,  and  when  ordered 
by  his  suzerain  to  desist  sent  a contemptuous  refusal. 
Such  a defiance  of  the  Emperor’s  dignity  could  not 
be  overlooked.  Once  more  a great  army  started  on 
its  way  to  invade  Korai,  nominally  only  with  the 
object  of  punishing  the  murderer  of  the  Emperor’s 
vassal  king,  without  any  desire  to  injure  either  the 
people  or  the  kingdom.  The  bitter  experience  of 
the  former  campaign  had  taught  the  Chinese  a lesson 
which  was  not  forgotten  on  this  occasion,  and  caution 
guided  every  step  of  the  invading  army’s  advance. 
All  Liaotung  was  overrun  and  its  cities  taken  by 
storm,  and  the  Chinese  advanced  on  their  way  to  the 
capital,  Phyong  An,  without  having  met  with  one 
reverse,  until  they  arrived  before  the  city  of  Anchiu, 
only  forty  miles  north  of  the  capital. 

Here  the  Koraians  made  their  last  stand.  At  first, 
deceived  by  the  generalship  of  the  Chinese,  w'ho,  it 
is  said,  were  headed  by  their  own  Emperor,  by  whom 

' Parker,  “ Race  Struggles  in  Korea.”  According  to  Mr.  Ross,  Hoh 
Su  Wen  was  distinguished  by  “ his  great  size,  ugly  face,  terrible 
manner,  enormous  strength,  and  a magic  sword.” 


STORY  OF  THREE  KINGDOMS  77 


the  plans  of  the  battle  were  made,  they  ventured  on 
a sortie  in  mass,  but  the  whole  force  was  surrounded 
and  cut  off  from  the  city,  and  more  than  20,000  fell. 
The  survivors,  who  fought  their  way  back  or  had 
remained  to  garrison  the  city  walls,  undaunted  by 
this  reverse,  still  bade  defiance  to  the  victorious  be- 
siegers, and  held  so  obstinately  to  their  fortress  that 
the  Chinese  were,  in  the  end,  forced  by  the  approach 
of  winter  and  the  increasing  lack  of  provisions  to 
abandon  the  siege  and  withdraw  to  their  own  country. 
This  time  their  retreat  was  not  harassed.  The 
Koraians  had  suffered  too  severely  to  be  able  to 
conduct  a vigorous  pursuit,  and  were  glad  enough 
to  see  the  backs  of  their  foes  as  they  started  on  their 
long  march  homewards  ; but  the  privations  of  cold 
and  hunger  exacted  their  usual  toll  from  the  retreat- 
ing army.  The  Emperor  was  not  wanting  in  chivalry 
to  his  enemies.  Foiled  though  he  had  been,  and 
deeply  chagrined  as  he  must  have  felt  on  seeing  all 
his  prudence  and  generalship  rendered  fruitless  when 
in  the  very  last  stage  of  the  road  that  led  to  triumph, 
he  sent,  at  the  beginning  of  his  retreat,  a present  of 
one  hundred  pieces  of  silk  to  the  commander  of  the 
Koraian  fortress  and  a letter  complimenting  him  on 
the  gallantry  of  his  defence. 

Some  years  passed  away,  during  which  the 
Emperor  died  and  Korai,  still  governed  by  her 
arrogant  usurper,  was  left  in  peace  as  far  as  China 
was  concerned.  But  the  old  grudge  against  Silla 
was  not  forgotten  by  Korai,  and  she  succeeded  in 
drawing  Pekche  into  her  quarrel  and  both  declared 
war  against  Silla.  Silla  had  been  not  less  observant 
of  her  duties  as  vassal  to  the  new  Emperor  than 
she  was  to  his  predecessor  and  was  now  to  reap 
her  reward.  Her  prayer  for  help  was  at  once 
answered  and  Korai  was  again  invaded,  and  as  all  her 
strength  was  required  to  defend  her  own  territories 


78 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


against  China  on  the  north,  Silla  was  left  free  to 
do  with  Pekche  as  she  could.  The  issue  was  not 
long  in  doubt.  Pekche  was  governed  by  an  in- 
capable King,  who  knew  neither  how  to  govern  or 
lead  himself  nor  to  choose  ministers  or  generals  who 
could  do  so  for  him  and  who  was  guided  in  all 
he  did  principally  by  professional  sorcerers  and 
diviners,  a class  which  has  exercised  immense  influ- 
ence in  Korea  from  her  earliest  days  and  continued 
to  do  so  in  the  present  generation  of  the  twentieth 
century.  The  advice  of  the  sorcerers  and  diviners 
conflicted  with  that  of  the  most  capable  generals, 
but  it  was  adopted  in  preference  to  theirs  and  the 
natural  result  followed.  The  Sillan  army  had  an 
easy  march  into  Pekche,  and  simultaneously  with  its 
advance  from  the  east,  a Chinese  force  was  landed 
on  the  western  shore.  The  capital  fell  almost  with- 
out resistance  before  the  allied  armies  ; the  King  fled 
from  it  but  was  soon  taken,  and  he,  with  all  his 
family  and  an  immense  number  of  his  subjects,  were 
sent  as  prisoners  to  China.  A story  is  told  by  Mr. 
Hulbert,  incidental  to  the  fall  of  the  capital,  which 
is  only  one  of  the  many  interesting  incidents  that 
crowd  the  pages  of  his  exhaustive  history,  but  which 
are  necessarily  excluded  by  the  limits  of  space  from 
our  own  story,  the  pathos  of  which  is  such  that  we 
make  an  exception  to  the  rule  we  have  prescribed 
for  ourselves  and  quote  it  in  full  as  it  is  told  by 
Mr.  Hulbert.  It  is  as  brief  as  it  is  pathetic. 

“ When  the  Silla  army  approached  the  capital,  the  King  fled  to  the 
town  now  known  as  Kong-Ju.  He  left  all  the  palace  women  behind 
him,  and  they,  knowing  what  their  fate  would  be  at  the  hands  of  the 
Silla  soldier}’,  went  together  to  a beetling  precipice  which  overhangs 
the  harbour  of  Ta  Wang  and  cast  themselves  from  the  summit  into 
the  water  beneath.  That  precipice  is  famed  in  Korean  song  and 
story  and  is  called  by  the  exquisitely  poetic  name  Nak-whaam,  or 
the  “ Precipice  of  the  Falling  Flowers.” 


STORY  OF  THREE  KINGDOMS  79 


Pekche  now  lost  its  independent  existence  as  a 
kingdom,  and  was  incorporated  as  a prefecture  in 
the  Chinese  Empire  and  placed  under  Chinese 
governors.  But  it  was  not  quite  dead  yet.  Some 
of  the  beaten  soldiers  continued  to  maintain  a guerilla 
warfare  in  the  mountain  fastnesses  to  which  they  had 
fled  on  the  fall  of  their  King  and  capital,  and  were 
a continued  source  of  trouble  both  to  the  Chinese 
governors  and  to  the  Sillan  armies  who  were  ex- 
pected by  the  Emperor  to  support  him.  This  con- 
tinued for  three  years  (it  was  in  660  that  the  capital 
was  taken),  and  then  a more  serious  attempt  was 
made  to  recover  the  national  independence,  and  this 
time  Pekche  had  the  assistance  of  what  should  have 
been  a powerful  and  efficient  ally.  We  have  not 
hitherto  referred  in  this  chapter  to  Japanese  rela- 
tions with  Korea,  especially  with  the  two  southern 
kingdoms,  as  they  were  so  frequent  and  intimate  and 
productive  of  such  influence  on  the  future  histories 
both  of  Korea  and  Japan  that  they  merit  a chapter 
to  themselves.  We  shall  here  only  anticipate  what 
shall  be  said  at  length  hereafter — that  Japan’s  rela- 
tions with  Pekche  were  on  a more  intimate  scale 
than  with  Silla,  and  that  they  had  been  almost 
invariably  those  of  friendship  and  alliance.  Princes 
of  the  royal  house  of  Pekche  frequently  visited  the 
Court  of  the  Mikado,  and  a son  of  the  last  King 
was  actually  at  the  Court  when  his  father  fell. 

In  663  a warrior  priest  of  Pekche  raised  the 
standard  of  rebellion  against  the  Chinese  Governor 
of  his  native  land,  and  at  the  same  time  sent  to 
Japan  to  pray  for  help  and  for  the  return  of  the 
prince  to  be  crowned  as  king.  Both  prayers  were 
answered.  A large  Japanese  force  escorted  the  young 
prince  and  was  prepared  to  associate  with  the  Pekche 
patriots  in  their  effort  to  shake  themselves  free  both 
of  China  and  Silla.  At  this  time  both  the  Chinese 


80 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


and  Sillan  troops  were  engaged  in  operations  on 
the  southern  borders  of  their  common  enemy,  Korai  ; 
but  when  news  reached  them  of  the  new  outbreak 
both  promptly  turned  southwards  and  marched  with 
such  speed  and  at  the  same  time  covered  their  move- 
ments so  well  that  they  took  both  the  Pekche  army 
and  the  newly  landed  Japanese  by  utter  surprise. 
The  Japanese  suffered  one  of  the  few  overwhelming 
disasters  that  history  records  outside  their  own 
borders.  Their  soldiers  were  slaughtered  as  they 
stood  or  driven  into  the  sea  to  be  drowned  or  slain 
by  arrows  shot  from  the  shore,  and  their  ships  and 
almost  the  whole  of  the  great  expedition  utterly 
destroyed,  its  ruin  being  hardly  less  complete  than 
that  which  the  Japanese  in  their  turn  inflicted  on  their 
Mongol  invaders  six  hundred  years  later.' 

This  was  Pekche’s  last  despairing  effort.  It  had 
already  ceased  to  exist  in  name.  Its  people  who 
were  not  dead  or  prisoners  in  China  emigrated  in 
hundreds  to  Japan,  where  they  were  adopted  as  sub- 
jects by  the  Mikado,  and  founded  colonies  whose 
descendants  exist  in  Japan  to  this  day.  Only  the 
tillers  of  the  soil  were  left,  and  both  land  and  people 
were  ere  long,  when  China  found  the  retention  of 
any  dominion  in  Southern  Korea  was  more  trouble 
than  it  was  worth,  incorporated  in  Silla.  Pekche  was 
founded  in  i6  B.C.  Its  final  fall  at  the  end  of  its 
last  struggle  took  place  in  663  A.D.,  and  it  had 
therefore  an  independent  existence  as  a kingdom  ex- 
tending over  679  years.  It  had  made  great  progress 
in  all  the  elements  of  material  civilisation,  and  of 
the  three  kingdoms,  as  will  be  seen  later  on,  it 
was  the  one  to  whom  Japan  owed  most  for  all  she 
learned  from  Korea.  The  Koraians  were  principally 
soldiers,  the  Sillans  cultivators  of  art  and  industry  ; 
the  people  of  Pekche  united  the  best  qualities  of  both, 

■ The  defeat  according  to  the  “ Nihongi  ” was  not  so  complete. 


STORY  OF  THREE  KINGDOMS  81 


and,  though  not  the  equal  of  either  in  their  own 
spheres,  became  efficient  soldiers  and  skilful  artificers. 
If  in  nothing  else  their  name  lives  in  Eastern  history 
as  the  early  civilisers  and  proselytisers  of  Japan. 

Korai  did  not  long  continue  to  exist  as  an  inde- 
pendent kingdom  after  the  fall  of  Pekche.  The  great 
usurper  Hoh  Su  Wen  had,  throughout  all  her  san- 
guinary wars  with  China,  been  the  mainstay  of  her 
military  organisation,  and  the  brave  resistance  which 
she  had  made  to  what  appeared  to  be  overwhelming 
armies,  that  had  only  to  strike  to  overcome  an  in- 
significant border  kingdom,  was  mainly  owing  to  the 
genius  with  which  he  utilised  her  resources  and  the 
spirit  which  the  example  of  his  valour  infused  into 
every  man  in  the  ranks  of  her  army.  He  died  four 
years  after  the  fall  of  Pekche,  and  with  him,  murderer 
and  tyrant  as  he  was,  departed,  not  only  the  guiding 
intellect,  the  bravest  soldier  of  the  kingdom,  but 
the  unity  which  had  hitherto  enabled  its  people  to 
present  a solid  front  to  whatever  foe  threatened  them. 

He  left  two  sons,  both  as  ambitious  as  himself. 
They  quarrelled  for  the  succession  to  his  dignities, 
and  the  defeated  one  crossed  over  to  his  country’s 
enemies,  bringing  with  him  a section,  not  only  of 
his  own  countrymen  but  the  border  tribes  on  the 
northern  frontiers  of  both  China  and  Korai,  who  had 
hitherto  thrown  in  their  lot  with  the  latter.  Silla, 
relieved  from  all  apprehension  on  her  western  frontier 
by  the  downfall  of  Pekche,  was  now  free  to  throw 
her  whole  strength  against  Korai  from  the  south 
and  China  again  invaded  it  from  the  north.  With 
discord  among  her  own  people,  without  her  leader 
who  had  hitherto  guided  her  to  victory,  and  attacked 
at  once  on  both  sides,  she  still  made  a brave  resist- 
ance, worthy  of  her  old  fame.  She  was  first  driven 
by  the  Chinese  from  all  her  territory  beyond  the 
•Yalu,  and  while  the  Sillan  army  advanced  on  the 

6 


82 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


capital,  Phyong  An,  from  the  south,  the  Chinese,  once 
across  the  Yalu,  the  passage  of  which  was  so 
keenly  contested  that  over  30,000  Koraians  were 
said  to  have  been  killed,  had  an  easy  march  to 
the  same  goal.  Before  both,  the  city  fell  after  a 
siege  which  lasted  a month.  An  old  prophecy  fore- 
told the  doom  of  Korai  : “ When  the  first  King 
established  the  kingdom,  he  wished  his  government 
to  last  for  a thousand  years.  His  mother  said  : ‘ If 
thou  governest  the  country  well  thou  mayst  accom- 
plish this.  However,  it  will  last  for  just  seven 
hundred  years.’  ” > Another  version  of  the  prophecy 
contains  the  addition  that  80  would  be  the  cause 
of  its  downfall.  Her  existence  lasted  for  705  years, 
from  37  B.C.  to  668  a.d.,  and  the  Chinese 

general  who  commanded  the  final  invading  army 
was  eighty  years  old.  Warning  omens  had  been 
seen  in  the  capital  itself.  Korea  is  outside  the 
earthquake  belt,  and  earthquakes  are  as  rare  in 
it  as  in  England,  but  now  earthquakes  were  felt 
and  foxes  were  seen  running  in  the  streets.  Such 
portents  must  have  contributed  their  quota  to  the 
failing  hearts  of  the  superstitious  people  who  were 
fighting  their  last  battle  of  despair. 

One  last  gallant  sortie  was  made  in  vain  from  the 
beleaguered  city.  Then  the  son  of  the  great  Hoh 
Su  Wen,  whose  elevation  to  his  father’s  dignity  had 
cost  his  country  so  dearly,  committed  suicide  rather 
than  fall  into  the  hands  of  his  brother,  who  was  with 
the  invaders,  from  whom  he  could  expect  no  mercy, 
and  not  another  blow  was  struck.  The  city  was  taken, 
the  King  and  his  family  and  a large  number  of  the 
soldiers  and  people  were  brought  as  captives  to  China, 
another  large  number  being  at  the  same  time  taken 
to  Silla.  Others  fled  to  Silla  of  their  o^\Tl  will,  and 
preferring  the  rule  of  their  neighbours  in  the  penin- 
' “Nihongi,”  vol.  ii.  p.  289. 


STORY  OF  THREE  KINGDOMS  83 


sula,  even  though  they  had  been  enemies,  to  that  of 
alien  Chinese,  became  Sillan  subjects  and  stout 
recruits  to  the  Sillan  army.  The  old  kingdom,  from 
the  Liao  to  the  Tatong,  with  a population  of  695,000 
households,  was  incorporated  as  a military  pre- 
fecture in  the  Empire.  Throughout  all  its  existence 
it  had  been  almost  constantly  at  war  either  with  China 
or  with  its  southern  neighbours  of  the  peninsula, 
and  war  was  the  chief  occupation  of  its  people.  Their 
civilisation,  though  older,  was  therefore,  of  necessity, 
of  a lower  order  than  that  of  either  Pekche  or  Silla, 
which  were  favoured  with  milder  climates  and  more 
generously  productive  soils.  But  Buddhism  early 
found  its  way  to  Korai  ; and  in  its  train  came,  as 
they  did  in  a greater  degree,  not  only  into  the  two 
other  Korean  kingdoms  but  into  Japan,  learning,  art, 
science,  and  technical  industry.  Korai  was  celebrated 
for  “ its  graceful  willow-leaf  fans,”  and  for  its  guitars 
made  from  beech  and  snake  skin  with  ivory  keys,'  and 
for  its  talented  musicians,  as  well  as  for  its  warriors 
and  beautiful  women.  To  this  day  the  inhabitants 
of  Northern  Korea  furnish  the  stoutest  and  bravest 
soldiers,  those  who,  when  behind  their  fortress  walls, 
only  a generation  ago  faced  the  French  and  American 
bluejackets  and  marines  as  bravely  as  their  ancestors 
did  the  invading  hordes  of  China,  and  though  armed 
only  with  flintlocks  never  quailed  for  a moment  under 
a rain  of  Are  from  the  most  modern  artillery  and 
rifles.  And  Phyong  An  has  always  furnished  from 
its  daughters  the  most  beautiful  of  the  Gesang  that 
enlivened  the  Royal  Court  at  Seoul. 

Many  years  did  not  elapse  before  complications 
arose  between  the  two  Powers,  the  Empire  and  Silla, 
which  were  responsible  for  the  destruction  of  Korai. 
Silla  had  now  nothing  more  to  fear  in  the  peninsula. 
Her  population  was  largely  reinforced  by  fugitives 
' Parker,  “ Race  Struggles  in  Korea.” 


84 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


from  both  Pekche  and  Korai.  Her  experience  in  the 
wars  which  she  had  waged  in  alliance  with  China  had 
taught  her  military  science,  and  she  had  many  of 
the  old  Koraian  soldiers  in  her  ranks,  infusing  their 
spirit  into  the  less  hardy  or  courageous  Sillans.  She 
was  dissatisfied  with  her  share  of  the  spoil  on  the 
downfall  of  Korai,  and  ventured  to  try  the  conclusion 
of  arms  with  her  great  suzerain  and  former  ally. 
She  was  beaten,  and  forced  to  sue  humbly  for  for- 
giveness, but  the  internal  affairs  of  his  own  dominions 
caused  the  Emperor  of  China  to  take  less  and  less 
interest  in  those  of  Korea,  and  his  dignity  having 
been  satisfied  with  the  humiliations  and  apologies 
of  Silla,  he  left  Korea  entirely  to  her  arbitrament. 
She  gradually  succeeded  in  extending  her  sway  over 
the  whole  peninsula  as  far  north  as  the  River  Tatong. 
For  the  next  three  hundred  years  the  story  of  the 
peninsula  is  that  of  the  progress  of  Silla  in  all  the 
refinements  of  civilisation  ; but  along  with  that,  in 
the  latter  part  of  this  period,  went  the  decline  in 
military  efficiency  that  is  always  the  sure  accompani- 
ment of  luxury  and  security,  while  contests  for  the 
throne  and  rebellion  became  not  uncommon  incidents 
within  her  borders.  At  the  capital,  Kyun  Ju,  there 
was  splendour,  the  evidence  of  which  remained  till 
the  city  was  destroyed  by  Hideyoshi’s  vandals  in 
1594;  but  the  provinces  were  neglected  and  fell 
into  decay,  suffering  heavily  in  the  frequent  uprisings 
that  took  place  against  the  central  Government. 

Silla  was  unique  among  the  three  kingdoms,  in 
that,  during  her  history,  she  was  on  three  occasions 
ruled  by  a Queen,  the  last  of  whom  occupied  the 
throne  from  the  year  888  to  898.  The  morals  of 
this  Queen  were  on  a par  with  those  of  Katherine  of 
Russia,  and  under  her  corrupt  Court,  whose  promi- 
nent features  were  licence  and  dissipation,  the  con- 
dition of  the  nation  fell  lower  and  lower,  and 


STORY  OF  THREE  KINGDOMS  85 


presaged  only  too  truly  its  ultimate  fall.  The  Tang 
dynasty  was  at  the  same  time  drawing  to  its  close  in 
China,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  movement  which 
culminated  in  its  overthrow  may  have  had  its  influence 
in  initiating  a similar  movement  against  the  royal 
family  of  Silla.  Be  that  as  it  may,  among  the  many 
rebels  or  adventurers  who  appeared  during  the  last 
Queen’s  reign  there  was  one  named  Kimg  I,  the  son 
of  one  of  the  Queen’s  predecessors  on  the  throne  by 
a concubine,  whose  early  life  was  passed  as  a priest 
in  a Buddhist  monastery,  but  to  whom,  when  he 
grew  to  manhood,  a life  of  military  adventure  proved 
more  attractive  than  the  safe  monotony  of  the  priest- 
hood. Gathering  round  him  a large  force  of  soldier 
bandits,  he  easily  overran  the  north  of  the  peninsula 
beyond  the  River  Tatong,  which  was  outside  the 
Sillan  jurisdiction  ; and  as  his  fame  spread,  as 
success  followed  his  arms,  so  did  his  fighting  strength 
increase.  He  extended  his  operations  to  Kang  Won 
and  Kyong  Kwi,  the  central  provinces  of  Silla,  and 
finally,  intoxicated  with  his  own  success,  he  pro- 
claimed himself  King  of  the  territory  which  was  occu- 
pied by  his  troops,  and  the  weak,  debauched,  and 
corrupt  Government  of  Silla  was  helpless  to  prevent 
him.  Kung  I was,  however,  not  the  sole  author  of 
his  own  great  fortune.  Much  of  what  he  had 
achieved  was  due  to  the  services  and  merits  of  Wang 
Kien,  the  youngest  of  his  generals.  Wang  Kien  was 
descended  from  the  old  royal  house  of  Korai.  He 
was  bom  in  the  year  878,  and  when  he  first  rose  to 
fame  as  the  greatest  of  Kung  I’s  lieutenants  he  was 
only  twenty  years  of  age.  His  future  greatness  was 
predicted  even  before  his  birth  : — 

“The  night  the  boy  was  born  luminous  clouds  stood  above  the 
house  and  made  it  as  bright  as  day.  The  child  had  a very  high 
forehead  and  a square  chin  and  he  developed  rapidly.  His  birth 
had  been  long  prophesied  by  a monk,  who  told  his  father,  as  he  was 


86 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


building  his  house,  that  within  its  walls  a great  man  would  be  born. 
As  the  monk  turned  to  go  the  father  called  him  back  and  received 
from  him  a letter  which  he  was  ordered  to  give  to  the  )'et  unborn 
child  when  he  should  be  old  enough  to  read.  The  contents  are 
unknown,  but  when  the  boy  reached  his  seventeenth  year  the  same 
monk  reappeared  and  became  his  tutor,  instructing  him  especially 
in  the  art  of  war.  He  showed  him  also  how  to  obtain  aid  from  the 
heavenly  powers,  how  to  sacrifice  to  the  spirit  of  the  mountains  and 
streams  so  as  to  propitiate  them.” ' 

The  monk’s  prophecies  were  amply  fulfilled.  The 
youth  threw  in  his  lot  with  the  adventurer  Kung  I, 
and  quickly  rose  to  be  his  most  trusted  lieutenant. 
It  was  under  him  that  the  provinces  of  Kang  Won 
and  Kyong  Kwi  were  conquered,  and  he  afterwards 
carried  his  arms  in  triumph  into  the  south-western 
province  of  Cholla,  where  he  had  to  overcome,  not 
the  royal  army  of  Silla,  which  was  now  reduced  to 
a state  of  hopeless  impotency,  but  a southern  rebel, 
Kyun  Wun,  who  was  in  arms  against  both  Silla 
and  Kung  I,  and  v/hose  ambition  was  to  win  for 
himself  the  crown  of  Silla. 

While  the  young  lieutenant  was  thus  winning  glory 
for  himself  in  the  field,  and  becoming  the  idol  of 
the  soldiers  and  the  rising  hope  of  the  people,  dis- 
gusted with  a Court  that  was  yearly  abandoning 
itself  more  and  more  to  idleness  and  debauchery,  a 
change  had  come  over  his  first  master.  The  ex- 
Buddhist  priest  had  reverted  to  his  old  calling,  not 
however,  in  the  humble  role  of  a priest.  He  had  pre- 
viously proclaimed  himself  a king.  He  now  went 
farther,  and  in  the  fervency  of  religion  proclaimed 
himself  the  Buddhist  Messiah,  and  exacted  from  all 
around  him  the  devotion  that  was  due  to  a god. 
Those  who  failed  in  their  obeisance  were  put  to 
death,  and  among  those  who  suffered  were  his  wife, 
whom  he  murdered  with  his  own  hand  in  a manner 

‘ Hulbert’s  “ History  of  Korea,"  vol.  i.  p.  129. 


TOAIU  of  SllJ.AN’  KING  AT  KYLN  JF. 


STORY  OF  THREE  KINGDOMS  87 


too  horrible  to  be  described,  and  his  two  sons.  As 
the  popularity  of  the  young  general  grew,  so  did 
the  hatred  and  horror  with  which  the  self-made  King 
was  regarded.  At  last  the  troops  mutinied  and  killed 
him,  and  proclaimed  Wang  Kien  King  in  his  stead — 
King,  that  is,  of  the  district  of  Central  and  Northern 
Korea,  which  had  formed  the  dominions  of  the  dead 
tyrant  during  his  brief  period  of  assumed  royalty. 

Silla  still  continued  to  drag  on  an  inglorious 
existence  in  south-east  Korea.  In  the  south-west 
the  rebel  Kyun  Wun,  defeated  as  he  had  been  by 
Wang  Kien,  was  still  powerful  ; and  while  the  latter 
was  engaged  in  establishing  order  in  his  new  kingdom 
in  the  north,  in  framing  a good  system  of  government 
under  which  the  people  should  be  prosperous  and 
happy,  Kyun  Wun  made  a sudden  dash  on  the  capital 
of  Silla,  and,  taking  it  entirely  by  surprise,  made  it 
an  easy  prey.  The  King  was  killed,  the  Queen 
violated  by  the  rebel  leader  himself,  the  palace  ladies 
given  to  the  soldiers,  and  the  palace  looted.  It  was 
now  a question  whether  the  crowned  King  of 
Northern  Korea  or  the  bloodthirsty  rebel  of  the  South 
should  become  the  master  of  the  whole  peninsula. 
It  was  decided  in  the  usual  way,  but  it  was  not  till 
after  a long  and  hard-fought  campaign  that  right 
finally  triumphed,  that  Kyun  Wun’s  army  was  de- 
stroyed, and  he  surrendered  himself  as  a prisoner  of 
war  to  his  northern  foe.  This  was  in  the  year  935. 
In  the  same  year  the  last  King  of  Silla,  the  fifty- 
sixth  of  a line  of  sovereigns  who  had  ruled  over  the 
kingdom  throughout  992  years,  from  its  foundation 
in  57  B.C.,  worn  and  weary  with  the  wrongs  and 
sufferings  of  his  house,  despairing  of  restoring  its 
fortunes  or  of  reforming  his  weak  and  corrupt 
Government,  resigned  his  crown  and  handed  over  all 
his  royal  prerogatives  to  Wang  Kien,  who  now 
became  the  ruler  of  a united  kingdom  which  for; 


88 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


the  first  time  comprised  and  was  limited  to  the  whole 
of  the  peninsula,  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  Rivers 
Tumen  and  Yalu,  and  on  its  other  three  sides  by  the 
sea,  which  remained  in  its  original  territorial  in- 
tegrity, unimpaired  and  unenlarged,  from  his  day 
till  the  year  of  grace  1910,  in  which  it  was  annexed 
by  Japan. 

The  end  of  the  royal  house  of  Silla,  nearly  a 
thousand  years  ago,  resembles  that  of  the  last  of 
the  Kings  of  Korea  in  our  own  days.  Deprived  of 
his  royal  dignity  by  the  Japanese,  he  has  been 
granted  the  rank  of  an  Imperial  Prince  of  Japan  and 
a revenue  ample  for  his  support,  and  every  external 
sign  of  honour  that  could  appeal  to  his  vanity  shown 
to  him.  But  he  has  been  told  that  he  is  henceforth 
a subject  of  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  that  not  a shadow 
remains  of  the  absolute  power  which  he  and  his  fore- 
runners exercised  over  his  people,  who  are  his  no 
more.  And  so  it  was  with  the  last  King  of  Silla  in 
935.  Every  outward  honour  that  the  tact  and  kind- 
ness of  the  generous  victor  could  suggest  was  paid 
to  him.  His  historic  capital  ceased  to  exist  as  such, 
and  he  was  told  to  take  up  his  residence  at  Sunto, 
the  new  capital  founded  by  Wang  Kien.  He  w'as 
escorted  to  it  by  a royal  procession  which  extended 
over  ten  miles  in  length.  He  was  met  at  the  gates 
by  Wang  Kien  himself,  was  endowed  with  a princely 
revenue,  and  received  his  victor’s  daughter  in  mar- 
riage. But  he  had  to  perform  obeisance  to  him  who 
was  now  his  sovereign  and  to  subside  into  the 
ordinary  ranks  of  the  nobility  of  a new  kingdom. 


CHAPTER  V 


EARLY  RELATIONS  WITH  JAPAN 

Japan’s  connection  with  Korea  began,  according  to 
the  story  that  is  told  in  her  own  records,  in  the  most 
remote  periods  of  mythology.  When  Susa-no-o,  the 
child  of  Izanagi  and  the  brother  of  the  Sun  Goddess, 
was  banished  for  his  misdeeds  from  heaven  and 
descended  to  earth,  “ the  Nether  Land,”  he  is 
believed  to  have  found  his  new  home  in  the  province 
of  Izumo  on  the  south-west  coast  of  the  main  island  ; 
but  according  to  one  of  the  traditions  quoted  in  the 
Nihongi,  his  descent  was  made,  not  direct  to  the 
land  of  the  gods  but  to  that  part  of  Korea  which 
afterwards  became  the  kingdom  of  Silla.  He  was 
not  satisfied  with  what  he  found  there  : 

“ So  he  lifted  up  his  voice  and  said,  ‘ I will  not  dwell  in  this  land.’ 
He  at  length  took  clay  and  made  of  it  a boat  in  which  he  embarked 
and  crossed  over  Eastwards  until  he  arrived  by  the  upper  waters  of 
the  River  Hi  in  Idzumo.” 

He  brought  with  him  in  his  descent  from  heaven 
the  seeds  of  trees  in  great  number,  and  of  the 
eighty  kinds  of  fruits,  but  it  was  not  until  after  he 
had  settled  in  Izumo  that  he  first  planted  them.  In 
this  myth  may  possibly  be  found  the  notice  of  the 
first  prospector  who  spied  the  way  for  the  great 
stream  of  immigrants  which  was  subsequently  to  flow 
from  Korea  and  colonise  West  Japan. 

Long  afterwards,  in  B.C.  33,  when  what  the 

89 


90 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


Japanese  claim  to  be  the  first  period  of  their  authentic 
history,  though  it  has  been  shown  by  European 
savants  to  be  almost  as  little  worthy  of  credit  as 
their  mythology,  was  more  than  six  centuries  old, 
we  find  another  notice  of  a visitor  from  Korea.  At 
this  time  the  kingdom  of  Silla  was  already  founded, 
and  it  had  on  its  south-western  borders  the  tribes 
who  were  afterwards  united  into  the  petty  kingdom 
of  Kara.  It  was  from  these  tribes  that  the  visitor 
came,  riding  in  a boat,  “ a man  with  horns  on  his 
forehead.”  He  landed  in  Tsuruga,  and  said  that 
he  had  come  to  offer  his  allegiance  to  the  Emperor 
of  Japan.  After  long  wanderings,  spread  over  two 
years,  he  reached  the  Court  of  Yamato,  where  he 
remained  another  three  years.  Then  gifts  of  red 
silk  stuffs  were  bestowed  upon  him  and  he  was  per- 
mitted to  return  home.' 

It  was  in  the  reign  of  Sujin  (B.C.  97-33),  the 
tenth  Emperor  of  Japan,  whose  native  name  was 
Mimaki,  that  the  Korean  landed .2  Sujin  died  during 
his  stay,  so  he  was  told,  when  about  to  leave  Japan, 
to  make  in  future  the  august  name  of  the  Emperor 
that  of  his  country.  It  was  always  Kara  to  the 
Koreans,  but  that  part  of  Korea  was  thenceforward 
known  to  all  the  Japanese  as  Mimana.  He  was  not 
allowed  on  his  return  to  retain  his  gifts  of  red  silk, 
as  the  neighbouring  people  of  Silla,  hearing  of  them, 
raised  an  army  and,  invading  Mimana,  robbed  him  of 
them  all.  Silla,  on  her  part,  then  entered  into  com- 
munication with  Japan.  The  King’s  son  crossed  over 
the  intervening  sea  in  B.C.  27,  bringing  with  him 
offerings  of  gems,  swords,  and  a sun -mirror,  and  after 

’ “ Nihongi,”  vol.  i.  books  v.  and  vi. 

“ The  names  by  which  the  Japanese  emperors  are  known  in  his- 
tory are  all  posthumous.  They  were  first  conferred  in  the  eighth 
century  of  the  Christian  era  Each  Emperor  had  his  own  native 
name,  but  until  the  present  reign  it  was  never  in  his  lifetime  uttered. 


EARLY  RELATIONS  WITH  JAPAN  91 


visiting  many  places  settled  in  Tajima  and  married 
a lady  of  the  province. 

There  is  no  further  mention  of  Korea  in  the 
Japanese  annals  till  the  reign  of  the  Emperor  Chiuai, 
more  than  two  hundred  years  later,  but  in  the  much 
more  trustworthy  annals  of  Korea  there  are  records 
both  of  Japanese  descents  on  the  coasts  of  Silla, 
ancient  preludes  of  the  piratical  raids  that  became  so 
frequent  between  the  thirteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies, and  also  of  the  interchange  of  friendly  com- 
munications between  Silla  and  Japan,  which  show 
that  the  existence  of  the  two  countries  must  have 
been  well  known  to  each  other. 

In  the  year  200  A.D.,  when  the  Emperor  Chiuai 
was  on  the  throne  of  Japan,  a rebellion  occurred, 
the  suppression  of  which  required  his  presence  in 
Kiusiu.  While  there,  his  consort,  the  Empress  Jingo, 
in  a fit  of  divine  inspiration  told  him  that  “ a land 
in  the  west,  full  of  treasures  of  gold  and  silver,  a 
dazzling  land,  fair  to  look  upon  as  a beautiful 
woman,”  had  been  bestowed  upon  him.  The 
Emperor  refused  to  credit,  not  only  the  gift  but  even 
the  existence  of  the  land,  notwithstanding  all  that 
had  been  heard  of  it  in  previous  years,  and  was 
punished  by  the  gods  for  his  want  of  faith  with 
death.  Then  his  strong-minded,  courageous,  and 
ambitious  widow  resolved  to  undertake  the  task  that 
had  been  offered  to  her  husband,  and  conquer  ” the 
land  of  riches  ” for  herself  and  her  descendants. 
She  was  at  the  time  pregnant  and  therefore  not  in  a 
very  fit  condition  to  undertake  the  organisation  of  a 
great  overseas  expedition,  but  her  delivery  was 
delayed  by  the  curious  obstetric  expedient  of  tying 
a stone  in  her  girdle,  and  under  her  directions  an 
army  was  gathered  and  ships  assembled  from  all 
the  provinces.  Repeated  supernatural  omens  assured 
her  of  success,  and  in  the  tenth  month  of  the  year 


92 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


200  A.D.  the  great  expedition  sailed  on  a lucky  day 
chosen  by  divination. 

Supernatural  as  were  the  omens  that  preceded  its 
sailing,  they  were  far  surpassed  by  the  facts  that 
followed.  The  gods  blessed  it  from  the  first.  They 
sent  a gentle  spirit  to  guard  the  Empress  and  a rough 
one  to  lead  her  army.  They  sent  a favourable  wind 
which  filled  the  sails  ; the  great  fishes  rose  to  the 
surface  of  the  sea  and  bore  the  ships  onward  on 
their  backs,  so  that  not  an  oar  had  to  be  used.  A 
great  tidal  wave  followed,  which,  though  the  ships 
rode  on  it  in  perfect  security,  broke  on  the  shores 
of  Silla  in  a deluge  that  reached  far  up  into  the 
interior  of  the  country  and  filled  the  inhabitants  with 
terror. 

The  King  of  Silla  and  his  people  were  taken  by 
utter  surprise.  “ The  banners  of  the  invaders  were 
resplendent  in  the  sunlight  ; the  mountains  and  rivers 
flowed  to  the  sound  of  drum  and  fife,”  and  Silla, 
a nation  more  devoted  to  the  arts  of  peace  than  of 
war,  more  skilled  in  the  subtleties  of  diplomacy  than 
in  the  use  of  military  weapons,  had  nothing  to  oppose 
to  them.  Resistance  was  useless,  so  the  King  came 
to  meet  the  Empress,  and  kneeling  down,  he  bowed 
his  head  to  the  ground  and  promised  that  until  the 
sun  rises  in  the  west,  until  the  rivers  flow  backwards, 
and  the  river  pebbles  ascend  to  heaven  and  become 
the  stars,  Sillas  will  not  cease  to  render  homage 
and  pay  yearly  tribute  to  Japan.  His  submis- 

sion was  accepted  by  the  Empress.  Some  of  her 
suite  proposed  that  the  King  should  be  put  to  death, 
but  her  orders  to  the  army  were  : ‘‘  Slay  not  the 

submissive,”  and  this  principle  she  loyally  followed 
herself,  and  the  King  was  spared.  He  had  to  pay 
dearly  for  his  life.  His  treasures  were  seized. 
Eighty  vessels  were  laden  with  the  spoils  of  gold, 
silver,  and  silk,  that  were  carried  back  to  Japan  ; 


EARLY  RELATIONS  WITH  JAPAN  93 


hostages  were  taken  for  the  King’s  good  behaviour, 
and  the  Empress’s  staff  and  spear  were  set  up  at  his 
gate  as  memorials  of  his  vassalage  to  after  ages. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  the  easy  conquest 
of  an  unwarlike  kingdom,  taken  by  surprise  by 
invaders  who  were  well  trained  to  military  efficiency 
by  continued  fighting  in  their  own  country  ; but  faith 
is  sorely  tested  when  we  are  told  that  the  two  re- 
maining kingdoms  of  Korea,  Korai  in  the  far  north 
and  Pekche  in  the  west,  awed  by  Silla’s  fate, 
followed  her  example,  and  without  giving  the  army 
of  the  Empress  occasion  to  strike  a single  blow, 
voluntarily  pledged  themselves  to  be  for  ever  the 
vassals  of  Japan.  Silla,  on  the  east  coast  of  the 
peninsula,  directly  facing  Japan,  was  always  exposed 
to  attacks  from  the  sea  ; Pekche,  on  the  west  coast, 
was  fairly  secure  ; while  Korai,  in  the  north,  was 
totally  inaccessible  to  Japan,  unless  her  soldiers  first 
accomplished  a long,  difficult  march  through  a 
mountainous  and  hostile  country,  or  her  ships  made 
a long  and  perilous  voyage  through  unknown  seas. 
Pekche  repeatedly  proved  that  her  people  were  not 
destitute  of  military  spirit  and  capacity,  while  Korai, 
so  far  from  being  a power  that  was  likely  to  yield 
submissively  to  the  mere  threats  of  a semi-savage 
invader  from  a distant  and  unknown  land,  until  her 
fall  fought  vigorously  and  successfully  throughout 
all  her  history  for  her  independence  against  over- 
whelming armies  and  fleets  from  China  that  lay  only 
across  her  own  borders,  that  fronted  her  on  the  seas 
just  as  Japan  did  Silla.  It  is  unlikely  in  the  extreme 
that  either  kingdom,  in  what  is  historically  known  to 
have  been  their  condition  at  the  time,  would  have 
been  in  the  least  terrorised  or  even  influenced  by  the 
downfall  of  Silla,  which  both  held  in  contempt  as 
a fighting  factor.  All  Japanese,  however,  to  the 
present  day  hold  firmly  to  the  belief  that  the  whole 


94 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


of  the  peninsula  of  Korea  submitted  to  their  great 
Empress,  that  the  three  kingdoms  bound  themselves 
by  similar  vows,  and  thenceforth  became  the  vassals 
of  Japan,  and  Jingo’s  conquest  was  the  remote 
foundation  of  every  claim  which  Japan  has  since 
made  on  Korea  down  to  the  present  generation. 

The  researches  and  criticism  of  European  savants, 
who  are  unbiassed  by  the  national  vanity  and  preju- 
dices of  the  descendants  of  the  invaders,  have  cast 
a deep  shadow  of  scepticism  on  the  whole  of  the 
romantic  story  and  leave  as  much  faith  in  the  fact 
of  its  historical  occurrence  as  they  do  in  the 
miraculous  incidents  that  accompanied  it.  Dr.  Aston,' 
the  most  profound  of  all  scholars  and  investigators 
in  both  Japanese  and  Korean  history,  contemptuously 
dismisses  the  whole  as  a myth  founded  on  two  very 
distinct  historical  facts — that  there  was,  at  the  time 
of  the  alleged  invasion,  an  Empress  of  Japan,  a 
woman  of  real  determination  and  ability,  and  that 
not  one  but  several  Japanese  invasions  of  Korea  did 
occur,  though  at  later  periods,  in  which  the  Japanese 
did  not  invariably  meet  with  the  triumphant  success 
that  they  claim  for  the  Empress. 

The  annals  of  early  Korea  have  been  sho^vn  by  Dr. 
Aston  to  be  much  more  reliable  than  those  of  Japan. 
In  both  cases  the  chronicles,  prior  to  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  art  of  writing  and  learning  from  China 
— to  Korea  in  the  fourth  and  Japan  in  the  fifth 
century  of  the  Christian  era — are  founded  on  oral 
tradition  ; but  those  of  Korea  not  only  bear  in  them- 
selves much  more  striking  evidence  of  reliability  than 
do  those  of  Japan,  but  in  many  of  the  events  which 
they  record  they  are  confirmed  by  the  undoubtedly 

' The  story  of  the  invasion  as  just  given  and  the  main  incidents 
described  in  this  chapter  are  founded  on  Dr.  Aston's  translation  of 
the  “ Nihongi  ” and  his  paper  on  " Early  Japanese  History,”  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan,  vol.  xvi. 


EARLY  RELATIONS  WITH  JAPAN  95 


authentic  contemporaneous  records  of  China,  which, 
when  they  refer  to  Japan,  contradict  or  put  a very 
I different  complexion  on  the  statements  of  the 

Japanese  historians.  The  early  history  of  Korea  is 
almost  free  from  the  miraculous  or  superhuman 
I incidents  which  crowd  that  of  Japan.  Gods  and 

goddesses,  with  all  their  virtues  and  vices,  are  as 
conspicuous  by  their  absence  in  the  one  as  they  are 
by  their  frequent  and  active  presence  in  the  other. 

[ The  first  sovereign,  “ the  founder  ” of  Korea,*  was 

a very  human  personage  indeed,  claiming  neither 
divine  descent,  inspiration,  nor  guidance.  His 
I successors  were  not,  like  those  of  Japan,  almost  in- 
variably centenarians,  but  lived  and  reigned  only  for 
the  average  periods  of  the  lives  and  reigns  of  the 
sovereigns  of  other  countries,  of  the  west  as  well  as 
of  the  east.  Japan  was  always  one  empire,  and  there 
was,  therefore,  only  one  series  of  national  records, 
the  compilers  of  which  could  proceed  without  fear  of 
criticism  or  rivalry.  Korea  originally  consisted  of 
three  independent  kingdoms,  jealous  of  each  other, 
frequently  at  war.  Separate  records  were  kept  in 
each  kingdom,  each  forming  a check  on  the  other, 
and  they  all  present  a reasonable  degree  of  uniformity 
in  the  great  events  which  are  described  by  the  three 
in  common.  Finally,  not  only  were  writing  and  the 
study  of  Chinese  literature  and  science  introduced 
into  Korea  nearly  half  a century  prior  to  the  date 
of  their  introduction  into  Japan,  but  centuries  prior 
to  their  introduction  a large  part  of  Korea  was 
conquered  by  and  became  for  a long  period  incor- 
porated in  the  Chinese  Empire.  Chinese  officials 
governed  it,  and  their  scribes  kept  records  of  what 
was  passing,  which  were  preserved  in  the  Chinese 
Imperial  Archives  and  freely  quoted  by  subsequent 
historians,  both  Chinese  and  Korean.  All  these  cir- 
' Ki-T»e,  vide  p.  51. 


96 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


cumstances  combine  to  invest  early  Korean  history 
with  a degree  of  credibility  which  none  but  the 
Japanese  of  the  true  faith  can  in  the  present  day 
possibly  accord  to  that  of  Japan. 

Both  Korean  and  Chinese  annals  are  absolutely 
silent  as  to  the  Empress  Jingo’s  invasion,  but  they 
do  record  many  Japanese  incursions  in  the  third, 
fourth,  and  fifth  centuries  of  the  Christian  era.  In 
233  the  invaders  were  defeated  and  slaughtered  and 
their  ships  burnt  ; in  249,  294,  and  364  they  were 
again  beaten  back,  each  time  with  heavy  loss  ; in 
346  and  393  attempts  which  they  made  to  capture 
Kyun  Ju,  the  capital  of  Silla,  were  unsuccessful, 
and  during  the  fifth  century  no  less  than  twelve 
attacks  were  made  on  Silla,  in  every  one  of  which 
the  Japanese  had  to  retreat,  almost  always  with  heavy 
loss.  Only  one  of  them  can  be  identified  with  any- 
thing that  is  mentioned  in  the  Japanese  annals. 
They  were  for  the  most  part,  no  doubt,  mere  piratical 
raids  on  the  part  of  the  Kumaso,  the  savage  inhabit- 
ants of  Kiusiu,  over  whom  but  little  controlling 
authority  was  in  those  centuries  exercised  by  the 
Court  at  Yamato,  which  may,  therefore,  have  been  in 
total  ignorance  of  the  Kumaso  excursions  over  the 
seas  ; but  it  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  the  Sillan 
capital,  which  lay  some  miles  inland,  was  the  objective 
in  several  instances,  that  the  invaders  must  have 
occasionally  been  in  very  considerable  force. 

It  was  not  until  forty-seven  years  after  the  great 
invasion  that  Pekche  is  again  mentioned  in  the 
Japanese  annals,  while  ninety-seven  years  elapsed 
before  Korai  again  appears  in  them.  In  247  Pekche 
sent  “ tribute,”  not  apparently  in  fulfilment  of  a 
former  pledge,  but  as  an  inducement  to  the  founda- 
tion of  friendly  relations  with  a people  of  whose 
existence  Pekche  had  only  recently  become  aware. 
The  messengers  bearing  it  were  graciously  received. 


EARLY  RELATIONS  WITH  JAPAN  97 


but  when  their  ofiferings  were  compared  with  those 
simultaneously  brought  from  Silla,  they  were  found 
to  be  of  very  inferior  quality,  “ few  and  mean  and 
of  no  value,  while  Silla  sent  rare  objects  in  very 
great  number.”  Inquiry  elicited  the  disclosure  that 
when  passing  through  Silla  on  their  way  to  Japan, 
the  Pekche  messengers  had  been  forced,  under  threat 
of  death,  to  exchange  their  offerings  for  those  of 
Silla,  and  that  the  rare  objects  were  really  the  tribute 
of  Pekche  and  not  of  Silla.  To  the  return  envoy 
sent  by  Japan  the  King  of  Pekche  swore  that  for 
a thousand  autumns  and  for  ten  thousand  years, 
without  pause  or  limit,  his  land  would  bear  the 
regular  title  of  the  Western  Frontier  Province,  and 
that  every  spring  and  autumn  the  envoys  would  attend 
the  Japanese  Court  with  tribute.  The  date  of  this 
oath  is  given  as  249  A.D.,  but,  as  has  been  clearly 
proved  by  Dr.  Aston  and  other  commentators,  all 
the  early  dates  in  the  Nihongi  are  two  cycles 
(120  years)  too  early.  The  proper  date,  assuming 
that  the  oath  was  really  taken,  should  therefore  be 
369,  a time  at  which  not  only  was  there  strong 
enmity  between  Silla  and  Pekche,  but  the  latter  was 
also  threatened  on  the  north  by  Korai.  It  was,  there- 
fore, no  doubt  anxious  to  secure  the  goodwill  and 
the  help  of  Japan  in  the  complications  that  faced  it 
in  the  peninsula,  and  its  efforts  were  not  in  vain. 
Throughout  all  the  remaining  years  of  its  existence 
as  an  independent  kingdom  help  was  frequently  given 
to  it  by  Japan  in  its  gravest  crises,  and  a full  return 
was  made  for  this  help  by  the  civilising  and  humanis- 
ing influences  for  which  Japan  was  in  the  progress 
of  time  mainly  indebted  to  Pekche. 

The  first  great  contribution  which  it  made  was 
in  sending  a celebrated  teacher  of  writing  named 
Wani,  whose  arrival  in  Japan  took  place  in  285 
according  to  the  Nihongi,  really  in  405.  Schools  of 

7 


98 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


Chinese  writing  and  literature  were  founded  in  Pekche 
in  374,  and  thirty  years  later  the  pupils  had  become 
sufficiently  proficient  to  act  as  teachers  to  others. 
Until  Wani’s  arrival,  Japan  had  no  system  of  writing, 
no  written  records.  Then  began  the  studies  which 
resulted  in  the  wholesale  adoption  of  all  the  principles 
of  China’s  advanced  system  of  civilisation,  studies 
which  to  this  day  are  the  principal  element  in  the 
education  of  a Japanese  gentleman.  Wani  was  the 
first  of  a long  list  of  cultured  and  skilled  emigrants 
who  poured  into  Japan  through  the  succeeding  cen- 
turies, who,  as  artistic  and  industrial  specialists  of 
high  scientific  and  technical  attainments,  laid  in 
Japan  the  foundations  of  her  first  acquaintance  with 
all  those  arts  and  industries  in  which  she  is  prominent 
at  the  present  day.  Missionaries  followed  in  the 
track  of  the  lay  civilisers,  and  initiated  the  most 
triumphant  campaign  of  propagandism  that  the  world 
has  ever  seen.  In  552,  Pekche  was  particularly 
anxious  to  cultivate  the  goodwill  of  Japan.  The  two 
other  kingdoms  of  the  peninsula  had  formed  one  of 
their  few  alliances,  and  both  threatened  to  overwhelm, 
not  only  Pekche  but  the  Japanese  colony  of  Mimana. 
Pekche  had  been  saved  before  by  Japan  when  it 
had  fallen  against  Korai  alone,  and  now,  threatened, 
not  by  one  but  by  both  its  neighbours,  help  from 
Japan  was  once  more  anxiously  desired. 

As  an  inducement  to  send  it,  the  King  included 
in  his  tribute  what  he  regarded  as  his  owm  most 
valued  treasures — an  image  of  Buddha,  made  by  the 
sacred  hands  of  Sakyamuni,  and  some  volumes  of 
the  canonical  books.  Buddhism  had  been  introduced 
into  Pekche  in  384,  and  had  become  the  established 
religion  of  the  kingdom.  It  now,  for  the  first  time, 
made  its  way  into  Japan,  where  it  at  first  made  slow 
progress,  but  before  half  a century  had  passed  the 
ministrations,  eloquence,  and  learning  of  the  Korean 


EARLY  RELATIONS  WITH  JAPAN  99 


missionaries  had  such  effect  that  the  native  gods 
were  forgotten  and  Buddhism  had  become  the 
religion  of  the  whole  nation,  with  devoted  adherents  in 
every  class  of  life,  from  the  Emperor  on  the  throne 
downwards.  Monks  and  nuns  came  as  mission- 
aries in  troops,  first  from  Pekche  and  at  a later 
date  also  from  both  Korai  and  Silla,  and  with  them 
came  architects  and  builders,  bell-founders,  decora- 
tive artists  whose  best  skill  and  energy  were  devoted 
to  the  glorifying  of  the  religion  that  was  new  to 
Japan  and  to  the  provision  for  its  services  of  temples 
worthy  of  all  its  divine  merits.  Civilisation  and 
Buddhism  went  hand  in  hand  through  all  Japan 
that  in  those  days  acknowledged  the  rule  of  the 
Emperor  in  Yamatofthe  north,  it  is  to  be  remembered, 
was  still  held  by  the  savage  and  unconquered  Ainos). 
The  original  teachers  of  both  were  exclusively  Korean, 
and  many  of  the  architectural  and  artistic  triumphs 
of  the  early  Korean  proselytisers  are  still  in  existence. 
For  its  earliest  knowledge  of  music  and  dancing, 
of  astronomy,  geography,  and  calendar-making,  and 
of  the  less  creditable  arts  of  magic,  invisibility,  and 
geomancy,  Japan  was  also  indebted  to  Korea. 

Apart  from  the  Koreans  who  came  to  Japan  with 
the  avowed  object  of  acting  as  missionaries  or 
teachers,  there  were  large  bodies  who  came  solely 
as  immigrants,  seeking,  as  did  the  Chinese  in  Korea 
in  the  earlier  centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  refuge 
from  the  miseries  of  war  in  their  own  country  and  a 
new  home  in  a land  where  they  could  hope  for  peace 
and  security.  In  666,  two  thousand  emigrants  of 
both  sexes  migrated  from  Pekche  and  were  settled 
in  the  eastern  provinces,  and  smaller  bodies  from 
each  of  the  three  kingdoms,  coming  at  various  times, 
were  similarly  provided  for,  land  being  granted  to 
them  in  the  provinces  of  Omi,  Musashi,  Shimotsuke, 
Hitachi,  and  Kawachi.  These  were  all  frontier  pro- 


100 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


vinces  of  the  dominions  of  the  Emperor,  exposed  to 
the  incursions  of  the  Ainos,  and  the  grants  made  to  the 
Koreans  were  somewhat  on  a par  with  those  on  the 
Indian  frontier  made  to  early  settlers  in  America, 
gifts  that  would  have  to  be  held  with  the  sword. 
But  the  settlers  were  generously  treated.  They  were 
provided  with  the  necessaries  of  life  and  exempted 
from  all  taxation  for  three  years,  and  from  forced 
labour  for  ten  years,  and  those  of  them  who  were  of 
noble  rank  in  their  own  homes  were  enrolled  in  the 
nobility  of  Japan.  All  must  have  infused  a consider- 
able strain  of  Korean  blood  into  the  Japanese  people 
of  both  high  and  low  degree. 

With  Silla  and  Korai  Japan’s  relations  were  not 
so  close  and  friendly  as  with  Pekche.  Both  sent 
frequent  missions  bearing  what  the  Japanese  always 
termed  tribute,  though  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to 
understand  why  Korai,  which  was  never  conquered 
and  had  nothing  to  fear  from  Japan,  should  charge 
herself  with  the  expense,  trouble,  and  danger  of  send- 
ing tribute.  Both,  but  Korai  especially,  sent  mis- 
sionaries in  considerable  numbers.  Korai,  owing  to 
her  propinquity  to  China,  was  in  advance  of  both 
Pekche  and  Silla  in  acquiring  the  civilisation  and 
literature  of  China  and  in  her  conversion  to 
Buddhism  ; and  the  so-called  tribute  of  Korai  was 
principally  the  sacred  images  and  books  which 
were  brought  by  missionaries,  not  as  tokens  of  the 
vassalage  of  their  country  but  as  symbols  of  the 
holy  faith  which  it  was  their  dear  object  to  instil 
into  Japan.  On  two  occasions  only  do  the  Japanese 
seem  to  have  come  into  actual  contact  with  Korai. 
Mimana,  as  already  mentioned,  bore  some  re- 
semblance to  a Japanese  colony,  so  much  so,  at 
least,  that  a Japanese  resident  and  a garrison 
of  Japanese  troops  were  always  stationed  there.  In 
464  Silla,  invaded  by  Korai,  when  her  conditions  were 


EARLY  RELATIONS  WITH  JAPAN  101 


“ more  precarious  than  a pile  of  eggs  ” sought  the 
assistance  of  the  Japanese  from  Mimana,  and  with 
their  aid  drew  the  Koraians  into  an  ambush  and 
totally  defeated  them.  Nearly  one  hundred  years 
later,  the  Emperor,  taking  the  part  of  Pekche  in 
her  struggles,  sent  Sadahiko,  a general  whose  name 
still  lives  in  historical  romance,  “ in  command  of 
an  army  of  several  tens  of  thousands  of  men,”  to 
attack  Korai  in  conjunction  with  the  troops  of  Pekche. 
He  was  victorious,  and  took  and  plundered  the 
capital.  Notwithstanding  the  assistance  given  to  Silla 
on  the  occasions  just  mentioned,  her  relations  with 
Japan  were  the  reverse  of  those  of  allies.  The  fre- 
quent piratical  descents  that  were  made  on  her  coasts 
by  freebooters  have  already  been  referred  to.  More 
serious  expeditions  were  occasionally  sent  against  her, 
provoked  by  her  own  aggressions  on  Japan’s  friends 
of  Pekche,  or  on  Japan’s  own  sphere  of  Mimana. 
In  5 54,  two  years  after  the  last  King  of  Pekche  made 
his  despairing  effort  to  buy  Japan’s  assistance  with 
the  gift  of  his  Buddhist  treasures,  his  kingdom  was 
invaded  by  the  combined  forces  of  Korai  and  Silla. 
It  fell  before  them  and  the  King,  who  was  taken 
prisoner,  was,  by  the  orders  of  the  Sillans,  murdered 
by  a slave.  Eight  years  later,  in  526,  the  Nihongi 
curtly  records  that  “ Silla  destroyed  the  Miyake  of 
Imna.”  Attempts  were  subsequently  made  to  re- 
establish the  Japanese  supremacy  in  it.  In  the 
autumn  of  the  year  in  which  it  fell,  an  army  was 
sent  against  Silla,  which  at  first  met  with  some 
success,  but  was  eventually  completely  defeated  by 
the  Sillans,  and  two  of  its  generals  were  taken 
prisoners.  One  of  the  two  was  accompanied  in  the 
field  by  his  wife.  She  was  taken  prisoner  along  with 
her  husband,  who  shamefully  purchased  his  own  life 
by  giving  his  wife  to  be  his  captor’s  concubine. 
To  make  her  dishonour  complete  she  was  ravished  by 


102 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


her  new  master  in  a public  place,  and  then  contemptu- 
ously restored  to  her  husband.  He  was  willing  to 
take  her  back,  but  she  was  “ deeply  mortified  and 
refused  to  live  with  him,  saying  : ‘ Thou,  my  former 
lord,  having  for  no  good  reason  sold  thy  hand- 
maiden’s person,  with  what  countenance  could  I now 
live  with  thee?  ’ ” And  she  persisted  in  her  refusal. 
The  second  prisoner  was  a man  of  different  stamp. 
He  was  stripped  of  his  clothes  by  the  Sillans,  and 
then,  his  naked  back  turned  towards  Japan,  he  was 
ordered  to  utter  an  insultingly  contemptuous  invita- 
tion to  his  own  countrymen.  He  persisted  in  shouting 
the  words  of  the  invitation  to  the  Sillans,  and  as 
torture  failed  to  weaken  his  steadfastness,  he  was 
finally  killed. 

Long  before  the  fall  of  the  two  kingdoms  of  Korai 
and  Pekche,  Japan  had  begun  to  seek  direct  at  its 
fountain-head  the  knowledge  which  she  first  derived 
through  Korea.  Japan  was  known  to  China  at  an 
early  period  of  the  Christian  era,  probably  through 
Chinese  adventurers  who  made  their  way  to  the  Island 
Empire  as  they  did  to  every  part  of  the  Asiatic 
continent  ; but  several  centuries  elapsed  before 
Japan  endeavoured  to  open  up  communication  on 
her  own  account.  In  306  (the  proper  date  should  be 
426),  we  are  told,  two  Koreans  who,  fifteen  years 
previously,  had  emigrated  to  Japan  with  a large 
following  and  had  been  naturalised,  were  sent  to 
China  “ to  procure  seamstresses,”  and  had  succeeded 
in  fulfilling  their  mission  with  the  aid  of  Korai. 
Visitors  from  China  subsequently  came  to  the  Court 
on  two  or  three  occasions  during  the  fifth  century, 
bringing  with  them  skilled  workers,  weavers  and 
seamstresses,  and  were  courteously  received,  but 
throughout  the  whole  of  the  succeeding  century  China, 
divided  between  the  northern  and  southern  empires, 
was  in  a state  of  anarchy,  and  was  too  absorbed  in 


EARLY  RELATIONS  WITH  JAPAN  103 


her  own  affairs  to  be  able  to  pay  attention  to  a land 
beyond  the  sea. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  sixth  century  China  was 
reunited  under  the  first  Emperor  of  the  Swi  dynasty, 
and  in  the  year  607  an  official  of  the  fifth  rank, 
accompanied  by  an  interpreter,  was  sent  from  Japan 
to  the  Court  of  Y,ang-Ti,  the  third  Emperor  of  the 
Swi  dynasty,  the  leader  of  the  armies  which  invaded 
Korai  in  61 1.  Yang-Ti  was  cruel  and  debauched 
but  vain  and  ambitious.  He  took  the  opportunity  of 
sending  along  with  the  returning  Japanese  an  envoy 
with  a suite  of  twelve  persons,  to  whom  the  Empress 
of  Japan,  who  was  reigning  at  the  time,  at  the  advice 
of  her  great  minister  Shotoku  Daishi,  paid  high 
honour.  When  the  envoy  took  his  departure,  eight 
Japanese  students,  four  of  whom  were  priests,  accom- 
panied him  to  his  master’s  capital  at  Liaoyang,  which, 
under  Yang-Ti,  had  become  a great  seat  of  learning 
and  possessed  a library,  founded  by  him,  of  54,000 
volumes,  and  remained  there  for  more  than  thirty 
years.  From  that  time  the  Japanese  students,  who 
had  hitherto  completed  their  education  in  Korea, 
found  their  way  in  increasing  numbers  to  China. 
Korea,  as  a source  of  learning  and  civilisation,  as 
the  provider  of  teachers,  became  neglected,  and  all 
intercourse  with  her  gradually  ceased.  For  six 
hundred  years  after  the  fall  of  Korai  and  Pekche  and 
the  unification  of  the  peninsula  by  Silla  it  is  hardly 
mentioned  in  Japanese  history,  and  it  was  not  till 
Kublai  Khan  launched  his  great  armada  that  it  again 
came  into  direct  contact  with  Japan.  Japan  had 
acquired  all  that  Korea  could  give  her,  and  united 
Korea,  under  the  protection  of  China,  was  too  strong 
to  be  lightly  meddled  with  by  a nation  whose  hands 
were  full  of  its  own  domestic  affairs. 


CHAPTER  VI 


UNITED  KOREA 

Wang  Kien  was  not  long  on  his  throne  ere  the  last 
touch  of  legality  was  given  to  it  by  his  recognition 
and  investiture  with  the  royal  dignity  by  his  Suzerain, 
the  Emperor  of  China.  While  slowly  climbing  his 
upward  path  he  had  shown  himself,  not  only  a brave 
and  able  general  but  a capable  civil  administrator, 
receiving  his  first  lessons  in  the  science  of  govern- 
ment while  acting  as  the  lieutenant  of  the  tyrant 
Kung-I  in  the  provinces  occupied  in  his  name,  and 
now  that  he  was  himself  supreme  ruler  he  soon 
showed  that  the  lessons  had  not  been  thrown  away. 
Valuable  civil  reforms  were  instituted.  State  institu- 
tions and  national  customs  were  modelled  under  the 
influence  of  the  Chinese  methods,  and  among  other 
systems  copied  from  them  was  that  of  the  examina- 
tions of  aspirants  for  civil  posts,  which  lasted  till 
the  present  generation  in  Korea  and  still  exists  in 
China.  Buddhism  was  encouraged,  with  all  its 
civilising  influences,  and  a strong  and  well -disciplined 
army,  no  longer  a terror  but  a protection  to  peaceful 
agriculturalists  and  traders,  kept  order  throughout 
the  provinces.  He  was  nearly  sixty  years  of  age 
when  he  came  to  the  throne,  and  his  life,  with  all  its 
success,  had  been  strenuous  from  early  youth,  princi- 
pally passed  in  the  field,  where  he  shared  the  hard- 
ships of  his  soldiers.  Now  anxiety  and  hardship  were 
replaced  by  the  ease  and  luxury  of  an  aristocratic 

104 


UNITED  KOREA 


105 


Court,  but  the  new  King  was  not  destined  to  enjoy 
them  for  long.  He  died  within  seven  years  from' 
his  accession,  leaving  to  his  son  an  undisputed  suc- 
cession, and  having  founded  a dynasty  which  was 
destined  to  occupy  the  throne  of  Korea  for  more 
than  450  years.  Wang  Kien  preceded  lyeyasu,  the 
great  founder  of  the  Tokugawa  dynasty  of  Shoguns 
in  Japan,  by  more  than  six  centuries.  The  careers 
of  the  two,  though  the  ages  in  which  they  lived 
were  so  widely  distant,  present  many  similarities. 
Both  were  military  adventurers  ; both  carved  out 
their  own  fortunes  ; both  possessed  themselves  of 
the  honours  and  dignities  of  the  leaders  whom  they 
had  at  first  served  as  lieutenants  ; both  founded 
dynasties  of  long  duration  ; both  were  equally  great 
as  generals  and  as  civil  organisers  and  adminis- 
trators ; and  both  left  testaments  by  which  their 
successors  were  to  be  guided  in  their  Government. 
Wang  Kien  advised  his  successors  to  cultivate  the 
Buddhist  religion  but  to  be  sparing  in  their  ex- 
penditure on  it  ; to  choose  as  the  successors  to  the 
throne,  not  the  eldest  son  but  the  one  who  showed 
himself  to  be  best  fitted  for  it  ; to  encourage  and 
use  the  services  of  good  men,  and  to  keep  bad  at 
a distance  ; to  keep  the  army  ready,  and  always  be 
on  the  watch.  These  were  precepts  by  which  he 
had  guided  ”his  own  life,  and  its  success  testified 
to  their  wisdom. 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  the  present  work  to 
relate  in  detail  the  story  of  his  successors.  The 
dynasty  survived  till  the  year  1392,  and  the 
characters  of  the  kings  during  the  four  centuries 
of  its  existence,  naturally  varied.  Some  were  worthy 
followers  of  the  founder.  Others  had  all  the  worst 
vices  that  have  characterised  the  worst  sovereigns  of 
the  worst  epochs  either  in  the  East  or  West.  The 
advice  of  the  founder  as  regards  Buddhism  was  faith- 


106 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


fully  followed  in  one  point  but  not  in  the  other. 
Several  of  his  successors  fell  completely  under  the 
domination  of  Buddhist  priests,  to  whom  in  their 
religious  ferv^our  they  surrendered  all  their  freedom 
of  will.  The  administration  fell  into  the  hands  of 
a Buddhist  hierarchy,  who  governed  the  country 
solely  in  the  interests  of  their  own  religion  and  whose 
ranks  were  recruited  from  the  aristocratic  section  of 
the  people,  not  only  voluntarily — and  the  tempta- 
tions of  rank,  dignity,  wealth,  and  influence  were 
so  great  that  they  should  have  been  sufficient  to 
ensure  a constant  succession  of  ready  aspirants  for 
the  coif — but  compulsorily,  every  family  in  which 
there  were  four  sons  being  ordered  by  royal  rescript 
to  devote  one  to  the  priesthood.  Even  this  was  not 
enough,  and  the  order  was  afterwards  extended  to 
families  in  which  there  were  only  three  sons. 
Temples  of  imposing  magnificence  were  constructed 
at  great  cost,  and  when  the  buildings  were  finished 
more  expense  was  incurred  in  splendid  ceremonials 
at  their  dedication,  at  which  priests  from  all  parts 
of  the  country  assembled  in  thousands,  and  still  more 
expense  in  their  endowment  and  in  the  celebration  of 
the  annual  festivals.^ 

As  in  Japan,  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  cen- 
turies, the  priests  became  strong  enough  to  combine 
the  callings  of  the  soldier  and  the  priest,  converted 
their  monasteries  into  impregnable  fortresses,  from 
which,  when  their  ghostly  influence  temporarily  waned, 

‘ During  the  eighth  century  an  extraordinary  revival  of  Buddhism 
took  place  in  China,  both  among  high  and  low.  “ Generals  forsook 
their  armies,  ministers  their  portfolios,  members  of  the  imperial 
family  their  palaces,  and  merchants  their  business,  and  their  families 
to  build  or  dwell  in  monasteries,  away  from  the  clash  of  arms,  the 
cares  of  state,  or  the  din  and  bustle  of  life  ” (Ross).  Korea  in  the 
fifteenth  century  seems  not  to  have  been  unlike  China  in  the  eighth 
in  its  Buddhist  fervour. 


UNITED  KOREA 


107 


they  sallied  forth  in  well-armed  and  disciplined  bands 
to  revive  it  with  the  sword.  Beneath  their  tyranny 
and  exaction  the  lower  ranks  of  the  people  were 
reduced  to  such  misery  that  they  sought  refuge  by 
Voluntarily  sacrificing  their  status  of  free  citizens 
and  enrolling  themselves  as  the  hereditary  slaves  of 
great  families,  who  armed  and  used  them  in  furthering 
at  the  sword’s  point  their  own  selfish  ambition  with 
utter  indifference  to  the  welfare  of  the  State.  On 
the  one  side  were  the  powerful  priesthood,  numerous, 
wealthy,  and  determined,  always  with  the  sword  in 
the  right  hand  though  they  might  carry  the  Buddhist 
Bible  in  the  left  ; and  on  the  other  were  the  civil 
and  military  mandarins,  whose  religious  sympathies 
were  gradually  exhibited  in  favour  of  Confucianism, 
which,  notwithstanding  all  the  Court  favour  shown 
to  the  Buddhists,  had  been  slowly  making  its  way 
in  Korea  from  the  time  when  the  doctrines  of  its  great 
founder  first  filtered  in  from  China.  As  if  these 
two  contending  factions,  priests  and  nobles,  for  the 
favour  of  the  King  and  the  offices  and  power  of 
government  were  not  sufficient  for  the  destruction 
of  peace  and  order  in  a distracted  State,  further 
bitter  rivalry  burst  out  between  the  civil  and  military 
mandarins.  One  of  the  former,  in  the  presence  of 
the  King,  struck  a military  officer  of  high  rank,  whose 
cause  was  warmly  espoused  by  his  fellows,  and  a 
general  massacre  of  the  civil  officials  ensued.  The 
military  then  seized  all  the  offices  of  state,  deposed 
and  banished  the  King,  placing  his  nephew  on  the 
throne  in  his  stead,  and  threw  the  whole  administra- 
tion into  such  disorder  in  their  struggles  both  with 
the  priesthood  and  the  civilians  that  the  whole  country 
fell  into  a state  of  utter  anarchy. 

The  internal  condition  of  Korea  throughout  this 
long  period  of  disorder  resembled  that  of  Japan 
when,  under  the  domination  of  the  Ashikaga  Shoguns, 


108 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


it  was  a scene  of  perpetual  civil  war,  in  which  the 
people  were  reduced  to  the  utmost  extremes  of  misery, 
starved,  spoiled,  and  slain  by  the  exactions,  greed, 
and  cruelty  of  the  armies  of  contending  feudatories. 
The  Japanese  were,  however,  spared  the  additional 
suffering  and  the  humiliation  of  foreign  invasion. 

Not  so  the  Koreans.  Japan,  guarded  from  all 
foreign  invaders  by  stormy  seas  and  her  own 
dangerous  coasts,  could  mould  her  destiny  secure 
from  outside  interference.  Korea  had  always  on  her 
northern  frontier  restless,  ambitious,  and  war-trained 
neighbours,  who  were  ever  on  the  watch  for  the 
opportunities  and  temptations  that  might  be  given 
to  them  by  internal  weakness  or  dissension  in  either 
China  or  Korea  to  extend  their  march  southward  from 
their  northern  steppes.  One  of  the  great  Tuguisic 
tribes  of  nomads,  whose  original  home  was  in  Central 
Siberia,  around  Lake  Baikal,  and  who  had  pursued 
a steady  career  of  conquest,  eastwards  and  south- 
wards, till  they  reached  the  frontiers  of  both  China 
and  Korea,  was  the  Khitan,  who  gained  possession  of 
the  whole  of  Manchuria  and  Liao  tung,  and  whose 
strength  was  so  great  that  in  the  eleventh  century 
even  the  Emperors  of  China  were  glad  to  purchase 
immunity  from  their  invasions  by  the  payment  of 
heavy  ransoms.  It  is  from  their  name  that  that  of 
Cathay,  by  which  China  was  first  made  known  /to 
medieval  Europe,  and  which  still  survives  in  the 
Russian  Khitai,  is  derived. 

Another  powerful  tribe  who  are  said  to  be  of  the 
same  race  as  the  Manchus,  the  present  rulers  of  the 
Empire,  were  the  Nyuchi,  who,  coming  from  homes 
that  lay  in  the  wide  districts  which  extended  from  the 
River  Tumen  to  the  River  Sungari,  spread  themselves 
along  the  whole  of  the  north-eastern  frontier  of 
Korea.  They  have  left  even  a greater  mark  on 
Chinese  history  than  the  Khitan,  whom  they  con- 


UNITED  KOREA 


109 


quered  and  displaced,  in  that  they  overran  the  Empire 
as  far  as  the  Yangtse  and  founded  the  Kin  or  Golden 
dynasty  of  the  Emperors  of  Northern  China.  As 
Cathay  is  derived  from  Khitan,  so  is  the  name  China 
said  to  take  its  origin  from  Kin,  which  is  pronounced 
“ Jin  ” and  sometimes  written  “ Chin.”  • A century 
later  the  Mongols — the  ” Braves  ” — another  Central 
Asian  tribe,  descended,  according  to  their  own  myths, 
from  a blue  wolf,  migrated  southward  from  their 
original  home  in  the  north-eastern  Gobi,  and,  gather- 
ing strength  and  skill  as  they  advanced,  in  their  turn 
conquered  the  Nyuchi,  overthrew  the  Kin  dynasty, 
and,  under  their  great  leaders,  Genghis  Khan  and  his 
grandson,  Kublai  Khan,  founded  an  empire  which 
virtually  included,  not  only  all  China  but  the  whole 
north  and  centre  of  the  Continent  of  Asia,  and  ex- 
tended from  the  China  Sea  to  the  shores  of  the  Black 
Sea.  All  these  tribes,  when  at  the  zenith  of  their 
fame  and  power,  made  their  mark  on  Korean  history, 
and  either  as  invaders  or  allies,  or  in  both  capacities, 
added  to  the  sufferings  of  the  people  by  the  wars 
which  they  forced  on  them  or  into  which  they  dragged 
them. 

The  Khitans,  occupying  the  territory  north  of  the 
Yalu,  claimed  to  be  legitimate  representatives  of  the 
ancient  kingdom  of  Kao  Korai,  and  as  such  the  right- 
ful owners  of  that  part  of  the  peninsula  which  lay 
to  the  north  of  the  River  Tatong.  The  claim  was 
resisted  by  the  Koreans,  and  the  result  was  a raid 
in  which  the  whole  of  the  claimed  Korean  territory 

' This  is  the  derivation  of  “China”  which  is  usually  accepted. 
Mr.  Ross,  however,  prefers  to  find  its  origin  in  the  title  of  the  Tsin 
dynasty,  under  which  the  Great  Wall  was  built.  He  also  derives 
“ Mongol  ” from  the  Mongolian  word  meaning  “ Silver,”  not  “brave  ” 
as  in  the  text,  assuming  that  it  was  adopted  as  the  title  of  the 
dynasty  in  imitation  of  the  immediately  preceding  “ Iron  ’ and 
“Gold”  dynasties.  All  three  dynasties  were  of  Turanian  origin. 


no 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


was  ruthlessly  ravaged,  though  the  raiders  were  ulti- 
mately driven  back  by  the  Koreans.  Frightened  at 
his  own  success,  and  apprehensive,  in  view  of  the 
great  and  increasing  power  of  the  Khitans,  of  what 
the  future  might  bring,  the  Korean  King  sent  an 
embassy  to  humbly  acknowledge  their  supremacy  and 
to  beg  their  goodwill  for  the  future.  But  the  Khitan, 
who  were  now  master  of  all  the  territory  comprised 
in  the  modern  Chinese  provinces  of  Chili,  Liaotung, 
and  Kirin,  who  were  already  contemplating  the 
assumption  of  the  Imperial  dignity  and  the  title  of 
Hwang  Ti,  or  Emperor,  which  can  properly  be  given 
on  earth  only  to  the  Emperor  of  China,  though 
pleased  with  this  testimonial  to  their  growing  great- 
ness from  an  ancient  and  historic  tributary  of  the 
Empire,  were  not  satisfied.  They  demanded  that  the 
King  of  Korea  should  come  and  render  homage  in 
person,  and  when  he  refused,  doubtful  whether,  if 
he  trusted  himself  to  Khitan  hands,  he  should  ever  be 
permitted  to  return,  another  and  more  serious  in- 
vasion followed  ; and  in  i o 1 1 the  Khitan  penetrated 
as  far  as  the  capital,  Sunto,  which  they  captured  and 
burned.  So  changed  had  the  Koreans  become  from 
their  ancestors,  who  hurled  defiance  at  and  drove 
back  the  trained  armies  of  the  Tang  emperors,  that 
now  a Korean  soldier  would  not  dare  “ even  to  look 
in  the  face  of  a Khitan.” 

In  their  despair,  Korea  appealed  to  the  Nyuchi  for 
help,  which  was  readily  given.  The  combined  forces 
of  the  Nyuchi  and  Koreans,  by  a pretended  flight, 
tempted  the  victorious  Khitans  into  an  ambush,  in 
which  they  were  slaughtered  in  thousands.  The 
alliance  thus  begun  was  continued  between  the  two 
victors,  and  as  the  ambition  of  the  Nyuchi,  as  they 
grew  in  numbers  and  organisation,  and  spreading 
all  along  the  northern  frontier  of  China  drove  the 
Khitans  farther  south  and  west,  was  satisfied  with 


UNITED  KOREA 


111 


their  conquests  in  China,  they  did  not  attempt  to 
interfere  with  Korea,  who,  on  her  side,  humbly 
acknowledged  the  military  supremacy  of  her  ally  and 
rendered  to  the  Kin  dynasty  the  same  tributes  of 
vassalage  that  she  had  been  wont  to  lay  before  the 
former  occupants  of  the  Imperial  throne.  For  two 
hundred  years  she  enjoyed,  as  far  as  her  external 
relations  were  concerned,  unbroken  peace,  and  then 
the  dogs  of  war  were  once  more  let  loose,  and  she 
had  again  to  suffer  the  horrors  of  foreign  invasion. 
This  time  her  experience  was  even  more  bitter  than 
it  had  ever  been  before. 

In  the  year  1213  Genghis  Khan,  in  his  career  of 
world -conquest,  completely  defeated  the  Kins,  and 
thenceforward  the  protection  of  its  old  ally  was  lost 
to  Korea.  When  the  Mongol  leader  had  consoli- 
dated his  power  in  North  China,  and  his  armies 
were  pursuing  their  career  of  conquest  to  the  Yangtse, 
he  turned  his  attention  to  Korea  and  soon  let  loose 
his  invincible  horsemen  on  its  northern  provinces. 
Everything  gave  way  before  them.  City  after  city 
was  quickly  taken  ; a heavy  tribute  was  exacted  ; the 
King  and  his  Court  fled  from  the  capital,  the  King 
carrying  with  him  the  coffin  which  contained  the 
remains  of  his  ancestor,  the  founder  of  his  line,  but 
flying  with  such  precipitancy  that  both  he  and  his 
Court  suffered  intensely  on  the  way  : 

" It  was  the  midst  of  the  rainy  weather,  when  the  roads  are  well- 
nigh  impassable.  The  whole  cavalcade  soon  found  itself  mired,  and 
torrents  of  rain  added  materially  to  the  discomfort.  Even  ladies  of 
noble  rank  were  seen  wading  with  bare  limbs  in  the  mud  and 
carrying  bundles  on  their  heads.  The  wailing  and  crying  of  this 
forlorn  multitude  was  audible  for  a long  distance.”  ' 

All  took  refuge  in  the  island  of  Kangwha,  where 
the  Mongols,  who  were  only  horsemen,  to  whom 
' Hulbert,  “ History  of  Korea,”  vol.  i.  p.  195. 


112 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


even  the  few  hundred  yards  of  sea  which  separated 
the  island  from  the  mainland  were  an  insuperable 
barrier,  could  not  follow  them.  The  Government 
being  thus  vacated,  it  was  replaced  by  Mongol  pre- 
fects, seventy-two  of  whom  were  appointed  to  carry 
on  its  details  throughout  the  country.  A heavy 
tribute  was  exacted,  and  two  thousand  members  of 
noble  families  were  taken  as  hostages  to  China.  All 
Korea  now  became  virtually  a province  of  China, 
just  as  the  beaten  kingdoms  of  Korai  and  Pdkche  had 
been  five  hundred  years  before.  The  King  lived 
in  helpless  seclusion  at  Kangwha,  where  he  remained 
from  1232  to  1259.  During  this  period  his  unhappy 
country  was  not  allowed  to  remain  in  peace.  In 
1241  his  people,  maddened  by  the  exactions  of  the 
Mongol  prefects,  who  neither  understood  nor  cared 
for  the  time-established  customs  and  institutions  of 
Korea,  and  carried  out  their  duties  utterly  regardless 
of  both,  rose  in  rebellion,  and  in  the  first  brief 
moments  of  success,  in  which  they  took  the  small 
Mongol  guards  by  surprise,  murdered  all  the  prefects. 
They  had  to  pay  a terrible  reckoning  for  their  out- 
break. Kublai  Khan,  boiling  with  anger,  promptly 
dispatched  an  overwhelming  army,  against  which  the 
Koreans,  now  very  different  fighting  men  to  the  hardy 
mountaineers  of  old  Korai,  could  make  no  stand,  and 
were  defeated  and  slaughtered  wholesale  by  the  Mon- 
golian horsemen  wherever  they  met.  The  whole 
country  was  once  more  completely  overrun,  more 
heavy  tributes  were  exacted,  a more  iron  discipline 
imposed,  and  all  the  people,  irrespective  of  rank  or 
class,  either  cowered  beneath  the  tyranny  of  their 
conquerors  or,  abandoning  their  homes,  sought 
shelter  in  the  wildest  fastnesses  of  their  rugged  moun- 
tains or  in  the  islands  off  the  coast,  both  equally 
inaccessible  to  the  Mongol  horsemen.  Enough  were 
left  behind  to  furnish  material  to  the  conquerors 


UNITED  KOREA 


113 


for  a prolonged  carnival  of  slaughter  and  for  slaves, 
who  were  carried  to  China  in  tens  of  thousands. 

In  1259  the  King — the  son  and  successor  of  him 
who  had  first  fled  to  Kangwha,  who  had  died  on  the 
, island — was  induced  to  inaugurate  his  reign  by  return - 

i ing  to  the  capital  in  the  first  year  after  his  accession, 
but  it  was  only  to  rivet  more  firmly  the  chains  on 
his  Government.  He  was  given  a Mongol  princess 
in  marriage,  and  from  this  time  the  position  of  the 
kings  was  much  akin  to  that  of  the  heaven - 
descended  Emperors  of  Japan  throughout  the  Fuji- 
wara  domination,  the  place  of  the  Fujiwara  in  Japan 
being  taken  by  the  Mongol  Court  in  Korea.  As  the 
Emperors  of  Japan  were  obliged  to  take  their  con- 
sorts from  the  ladies  of  the  Fujiwara  family,  so 
were  the  Kings  of  Korea  from  the  ladies  of  the 
Mongol  Court,  and  the  kings  were  the  husbands  and 
sons  of  Mongol  ladies,  under  the  absolute  control 
of  Mongol  fathers-in-law  or  grandfathers,  who  left 
to  them  no  active  share  in  the  administration  of  their 
Government.  As  the  Fujiwara  promptly  deposed 
every  emperor  who  showed  the  least  tendency  to 
become  restive  under  their  tutorship,  so  did  the  Mon- 
gols depose  or  exile  Korean  kings  who  ventured  to 
assert  their  independence. 

The  condition  of  the  kings  was  even  more  galling 
than  that  of  their  Imperial  brothers  in  Japan.  The 
latter  were  rendered  nullities  by  their  own  subjects 
( of  the  same  stock  as  themselves,  their  near  relatives, 
j who,  if  they  took  away  all  real  power  from  their 
^ nominal  sovereigns,  had  the  fullest  sympathy  with 
I them  in  all  their  national  customs  and  observances, 
1 and  tendered  to  them  outwardly  the  profound  rever- 
ence that  was  due  to  the  vicegerents  of  the  gods  of 
heaven  on  earth  and  the  direct  lineal  descendants 
of  the  greatest  of  all  the  gods.  In  Korea  the  kings 
were  the  creatures  of  tutors  who  were  their  own 

8 


114 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


relatives  by  maternal  blood  or  marriage,  but  who 
were  alien  to  them  in  race  ; who  were  ignorant  of 
and  totally  without  sympathy  with  their  national 
traditions  ; who,  in  the  contempt  which  bold  and 
successful  soldiers  have  for  a beaten  people  who 
have  lost  their  military  qualities  in  ease  and 
effeminacy,  regarded  their  sovereign  only  as  3. 
gilded  puppet.  The  kings  were  forbidden  even  to 
use  their  native  language  or  to  preserve  the 
traditional  ceremonies  of  their  Court.  Nothing 
Korean  was  left  them.  They  were  forced  to  speak 
only  the  language  and  wear  only  the  dress  of  their 
conquerors,  and  the  Court  at  Sunto  was  in  all  its 
details  a replica  of  that  of  Peking,  where  Kublai 
Khan  had  fixed  his  capital.  The  queens,  too,  shocked 
their  subjects  by  their  freedom.  The  seclusion  of 
women  is  the  most  cardinal  point  in  the  social  system 
of  Korea.  There  is  no  record  in  Korean  history  of 
women  who  played  the  great  parts  on  the  historic 
stage  of  their  country  that  so  many  of  the  Japanese 
women  have  done,  even  in  military  events.  Korean 
heroines  have  earned  the  few  humble  niches  that 
have  been  given  to  them  in  the  national  temple  of 
fame  more  by  passive  endurance  than  by  active  forti- 
tude. They  have  borne  torture  with  the  calm  courage 
and  unyielding  determination  of  the  early  Roman 
martyrs  or  their  later  sisters  in  Japan,  and  have  gone 
to  the  stake  or  scaffold  without  a tremor  ; but  they 
have  never  stood,  as  did  so  many  Japanese,  beside 
their  husbands  or  sons  to  share  actively  in  the  last 
despairing  defence  of  a hard-fought  siege.  Their 
whole  training  utterly  unfitted  them  for  heroism  of 
that  nature.  Very  different  was  the  upbringing  of 
the  Mongol  princesses,  the  daughters  of  men  who 
were  seldom  absent  from  the  battle  or  hunting  field  ; 
and  when,  while  on  the  throne  of  Korea,  some  of 
these  showed  themselves  bold  horsewomen  and  keen 


UNITED  KOREA 


115 


hunters,  the  Korean  sense  of  rigid  female  propriety 
was  shocked  to  its  very  core. 

iWhen  the  banners  of  the  conquering  Mongols  had 
been  carried  in  triumph  and  the  beat  of  their  drums 
had  been  heard  all  over  Asia,  from  Korea  and  Siam 
to  the  Black  Sea  and  Moscow,  and  Kublai  Khan  was 
the  acknowledged  ruler  of  an  entire  continent,  of  a 
greater  extent  of  territory  than  all  the  rest  of  the 
history  of  the  world  shows  to  have  ever  passed  under 
the  sway  of  one  man,  one  insignificant  island  Empire 
was  still  beyond  the  reach  of  his  arm,  was  still  un- 
numbered among  his  vassals.  Japan  was  at  this 
period,  under  the  able  and  firm  government  of  the 
Hojo  regents,  enjoying  one  of  the  few  interregnums 
of  peace  and  prosperity  that  fell  to  her  lot  in  the 
Middle  Ages.  The  intercourse  which  she  carried  on 
in  earlier  centuries  with  the  Court  of  the  southern 
Empire  at  Nanking,  when  she  was  supplementing,  at 
its  original  fountain,  the  learning  which  she  first 
acquired  through  Korea,  had  fallen  into  abeyance  ; 
and  Japan,  being  now  able  to  provide  her  own 
teachers,  had  dispensed  with  those  of  China,  just  as 
she  did  in  the  nineteenth  century  with  those  of 
Europe  when  she  had  drawn  from  them  all  they  had 
to  impart.  Her  only  connection  with  China  was 
maintained  by  her  piratical  cruisers,  which  harried 
the  coasts  and  terrorised  and  plundered  the  in- 
habitants. It  was  through  these  pirates,  no  doubt, 
that  Kublai  Khan’s  attention  was  drawn  to  Japan. 
His  first  motive  in  opening  up  negotiations  was  to 
put  a stop  to  their  raids,  but  in  doing  so  two  birds 
could  be  killed  with  one  stone  and  his  might  and 
majesty  made  known  beyond  the  seas,  as  they  were 
on  the  continent,  at  the  same  time  that  security  could 
be  obtained  for  his  people  on  the  coasts  of  China. 
The  story  of  his  abortive  negotiations  and  of  his 
ill-fated  expeditions  belongs  rather  to  Japan  than 


116 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


Korea  ; but  as  Korea  was,  sorely  against  her 
will,  drawn  into  both,  and  as  her  sufferings  from 
their  consequences  were  long  and  bitter,  it  must 
be  told  here  with  the  utmost  brevity  of  which  it 
admits. 

Five  embassies  were  sent  from  China  to  Japan, 
the  first  in  1268,  the  last  in  1273,  each  accompanied 
by  Korean  representatives.  The  opening  words  of 
the  first  letter  from  Kublai  Khan,  brought  by  the 
first  embassy,  were  in  themselves  sufficient  to  kindle 
the  anger  and  indignation  of  the  high-spirited,  un- 
conquered Japanese  to  white  heat — “ The  Emperor  of 
China  addresses  the  King  of  Japan.”  The  adventurer 
and  robber,  who  had  only  emerged  a generation 
previously  from  barbaric  nomadism,  by  these  words 
placed  himself  on  a far  higher  level  than  the  time- 
honoured  Ruler  of  the  Land  of  the  Gods,  himself  a 
son  of  the  gods.  No  reply  was  vouchsafed  to  the 
letter,  though  the  embassy  waited  in  Japan  in  vain 
for  nearly  six  months.  The  subsequent  embassies 
had  even  a worse  reception.  The  envoys  were  de- 
tained as  prisoners  where  they  landed  on  the  coast 
of  Kiusiu,  and  not  permitted  to  proceed  to  the  Court 
either  of  the  Shogun  at  Kamakura  or  of  the  Emperor 
at  Kioto.  Then  Kublai  determined  to  teach  reason 
to  the  audacious  and  ill-mannered  islanders.  The 
Mongols,  as  before  stated,  were  no  sailors  and  had 
no  ships.  But  the  Koreans,  their  humble  vassals, 
were  both  experienced  sailors  and  could  construct 
ships,  and  Korea  was  the  nearest  point  to  Japan, 
from  which  the  crossing  of  the  sea  from  the  continent 
was  shortest.  So  the  unhappy  people  were  dragged 
into  a quarrel  in  which  they  had  no  interest,  with 
another  nation  whose  military  prowess  was  as  well 
known  to  them  as  it  was  the  reverse  to  their  tyrant, 
and  ordered  to  prepare  a transport  fleet,  provisions 
for  the  Mongol  army,  not  only  while  on  its  march 


UNITED  KOREA 


117 


through  Korea  but  during  the  entire  expedition,  and 
a military  contingent  to  co-operate  with  it. 

It  was  near  the  close  of  the  year  1274  that  this 
expedition  sailed.  The  islands  of  Tsushima  and  Iki 
were  taken  after  a stout  resistance,  but  when  the 
expedition  reached  the  coast  of  Kiusiu  the  landing 
force  was  outnumbered  and  out-fought  by  the  de- 
fenders ; and  though  the  latter  suffered  heavily,  the 
invaders  were  driven  back  to  their  ships  with  still 
greater  loss.  The  defeat  was  followed  by  a storm, 
which  caused  such  damage  to  the  ships  that  it  was 
considered  advisable  that  the  whole  fleet  should  with- 
draw, it  having  now  become  quite  evident  to  the 
experienced  Mongol  soldiers  that  their  force  was  en- 
tirely insufficient  for  the  task  assigned  to  them.  They 
had  on  land  hitherto  been  accustomed  to  carry  all 
before  them.  Their  one  fight  with  the  Japanese  had 
taught  them  that  they  had  now  a foe  who,  man  for 
man,  was  the  equal  of  the  best  of  themselves. 

On  the  other  side,  the  Japanese,  though  victorious, 
had  also  lost  heavily  ; and  Kublai,  thinking  they 
would  hesitate  to  give  him  cause  for  another  invasion, 
tried  the  experiment  of  another  embassy,  which  had 
orders  not  to  return  without  a written  reply.  This 
time  his  envoys  were  not  only  imprisoned  but  decapi- 
tated. This  was  in  1275.  During  the  next  ^our 
years  he  was  too  fully  occupied  with  continental 
affairs  to  give  his  attention  to  those  beyond  the  sea, 
and  it  was  not  till  1279  that  the  tranquillisation  of 
Southern  China  afforded  him  leisure  to  think  again 
of  Japan.  Then,  unwarned  by  the  fate  of  the  pre- 
vious, he  sent  another  and  a last  embassy.  Its 
&nembers  were  not,  as  had  been  their  immediate 
predecessors,  brought  to  Kamakura,  but  beheaded  in 
Kiusiu,  where  they  landed.  This  final  outrage  of 
the  elementary  principles  of  international  courtesy 
was  more  than  a much  milder  and  weaker  man  than 


118 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


the  conqueror  of  continental  Asia  could  have  borne, 
and  he  was  in  no  mood  to  submit  to  the  gross  insults 
which  the  Japanese  had  added  to  their  former 
defiance.  He  was  also  now  in  a much  stronger 
position  than  he  had  been  at  the  time  of  his  first 
experiment  in  over-seas  expeditions.  Then  he  was 
dependent  solely  on  the  Koreans  for  sailors  and  ships. 
Now  he  had  at  his  disposal  all  the  maritime  resources 
of  Southern  China,  on  whose  wind-swept  coasts  were 
tens  of  thousands  of  competent  sailors.  There  an 
armada  of  300  great  ships  with  innumerable  tenders 
was  prepared,  while  the  unhappy,  exhausted,  and 
downtrodden  Korea  was  called  upon  to  furnish 
another  great  fleet  of  more  than  1,000  ships  of  all 
sizes  fully  manned  and  equipped.  The  fighting  men 
embarked  in  both  fleets  were,  according  to  the 
Japanese  authorities,  more  than  100,000,  but  more 
than  180,000  according  to  the  Korean  and  Chinese. 

The  story  of  this  expedition  has  been  told  else- 
where by  the  present  writer, i and  it  will  suffice  here 
to  say  that  even  greater  disaster  attended  it  than 
that  which  befell  the  Armada  of  Spain  on  the  British 
coasts  ; and  of  all  the  proud  force  that  sailed  so 
gallantly  for  the  conquest  of  Japan,  it  is  said  that 
only  three  men  survived  to  carry  the  tale  to  their 
master.  Storm  and  shipwreck  caused  the  greatest 
loss,  and  on  the  shores  of  Kiusiu  “ the  dead  bodies 
covered  the  sea  so  that  one  could  walk  on  it.” 
Neither  Kublai  nor  his  own  soldiers  had  any  heart 
for  further  attempts  to  crush  the  independence  of 
the  islanders,  who,  in  their  turn,  could  do  the  Mongols 
no  vital  injury  ; but  Korea,  Kublai’s  unwilling 
partner,  which  had  been  drained  of  her  very  life- 
blood in  providing  men,  ships,  and  supplies,  had  to 
pay  heavily  for  her  share.  For  the  next  three  hundred 
years  her  coasts  were  harried  from  end  to  end  by 
‘ Vide,  “Thej^Story  of  Old  Japan." 


UNITED  KOREA 


119 


Japanese  freebooters,  who  not  only  scoured  the  seas 
on  her  east  from  the  River  Tumen  southwards  and 
swept  the  Korean  shipping  off  them,  but  made  their 
way  even  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  River  Tatong 
on  the  west,  landed  in  and  plundered  the  Island  of 
Kangwha,  captured  and  burned  Hangyang  (Seoul), 
and  came  almost  within  shouting  distance  of  the 
capital  itself,  killing,  without  distinction  of  age  or 
sex,  burning,  and  plundering  wherever  they  appeared. 

The  Japanese  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  fourteenth 
and  fifteenth  centuries  looked  upon  the  Koreans  pre- 
cisely as  the  sailors  of  Elizabeth  looked  upon  the 
Spaniards  of  the  Western  Main — would-be  oppressors, 
if  they  had  the  courage  and  skill  to  carry  out  their 
wishes  ; vermin  whose  extinction  in  any  way  and 
by  any  means  was  an  acceptable  tribute  to  the  gods 
of  heaven  ; poltroons  who,  though  outnumbering 
their  overseas  foes  by  three  to  one,  would  always 
flee  before  them,  the  wholesale  plunder  of  whose 
property  was  no  robbery.  In  Japan  itself,  through 
these  centuries,  peace  was  unknown  ; every  man’s 
hand  was  against  his  neighbour  ; might  was  the 
only  right,  and  whosoever  could  enriched  himself  by 
despoiling  others.  Soldiers  whose  feudal  lords  were 
defeated  and  their  fiefs  confiscated,  masterless  and 
homeless,  proscribed  fugitives  in  their  own  country, 
were  always  ready  to  seek  across  the  seas  com- 
pensation for  what  they  had  lost  at  home  ; and  the 
scant  mercy  which  they  had  experienced  from 
enemies  and  victors  of  their  own  nationality  gave 
them  little  inducement  to  show  mercy  to  aliens  who 
could  not  defend  themselves,  their  women,  or  their 
goods.  Life  to  the  Koreans  on  the  coasts  through 
those  days  was  one  unending  dread.  Neither  day 
nor  night  was  ever  free  from  the  anxious  expectation 
of  the  signal  that  announced  the  approach  of  the 
swift  galleys,  carrying  ruthless,  unsparing  plunderers. 


120 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


reduced  by  their  own  miseries  at  home  to  a condition 
of  semi-savage  ferocity. 

The  Mongol  dynasty  in  China  lasted  till  1368. 
Kublai  Khan  died  in  1 294,  and  his  successors  on 
the  throne  rapidly  degenerated.  They  had  always 
been  aliens  and  conquerors  in  China  ; they  never 
assimilated  with  the  real  natives,  and  only  main- 
tained their  power  when  their  strong  right  arms 
were  guided  by  capable  rulers,  and  when  the  last 
failed  the  first  were  of  little  use.  In  1355  the 
oppressed  Chinese  rose  in  rebellion,  under  a leader 
who  was  the  son  of  a common  labourer  and  who 
himself  had  been  a Buddhist  priest,  who  changed 
his  robes  for  armour  and  his  rosary  for  the  sword, 
and,  placing  himself  at  the  head  of  his  countrymen, 
proved  himself  a general  of  consummate  genius  and  a 
civil  ruler  of  infinite  wisdom.  Before  him  the  Mon- 
gols were  driven  out  of  China,  and  when  that  had 
been  accomplished  the  labourer’s  son,  the  ex -priest, 
ascended  the  Imperial  throne  as  the  Emperor  Hung 
Woo,  and  became  the  founder  of  the  Ming  or  Bright 
dynasty  of  the  Emperors  of  China,  which  lasted  from 
1368  till  1 644. 

Throughout  all  the  reigns  of  the  Mongol  Emperors 
the  Kings  of  Korea,  closely  allied  to  them  by  blood, 
were  their  subservient  vassals,  rendering  the  most 
abject  obedience  to  all  their  behests  ; and  the 
degradation  of  the  Korean  Court  in  its  o^\•n  interior 
morality  was  even  more  marked  than  that  of  the 
Imperial  Court  at  Peking.  When  rebellion  raised 
its  head  in  China,  and  the  rebels,  under  a low-born 
monk,  drove  their  oppressors  from  throne  and  power, 
the  infection  crossed  the  borders  and  spread  into 
Korea,  and  here,  too,  a capable  leader  was  found 
when  the  exigency  demanded  it. 

The  last  sovereigns  of  the  dynasty  of  Korea  who 
survived  the  fall  of  the  Mongols,  when  they  were 


UNITED  KOREA 


121 


relieved  from  the  check  which  their  former  suzerains 
had  exercised  over  them  and  had  not  yet  had  time 
to  feel  the  strong  hand  of  the  Mings,  gave  way  more 
and  more  to  ease  and  licentiousness,  and  all  the 
evils  of  their  misgovernment  became  intensified.  It 
had  become  the  custom  of  the  Crown  Prince  to  spend 
part  of  his  early  manhood  at  the  Mongol  Court  at 
Peking,  where  he  imbibed  Mongol  vices  and  the  taste 
for  the  coarse  pleasures  of  the  Mongol,  and  found 
the  attractions  of  the  Court  so  superior,  both  for 
himself  and  his  Mongol  wife,  to  those  of  his  own, 
that  often  after  he  had  succeeded  to  the  throne  his 
time  was  passed  rather  at  Peking  than  in  Sunto,  his 
government  being  left  to  the  tender  mercies  of  cruel 
and  avaricious  officials.  His  predecessors  wasted 
their  resources  in  the  building  of  temples  and  the 
promotion  of  Buddhism.  Now  it  was  on  immense 
hunting  trips  that  treasure  was  lavished,  and  the 
cultivated  fields  of  the  people  were  ruthlessly 
trampled  and  the  crops  destroyed  by  the  swarms  of 
horsemen  who  accompanied  the  hunt.  The  Mongol 
queens  often  proved  jealous  consorts,  and  exercised 
a vigilant  watch  on  their  royal  husbands  ; but  even 
the  dread  of  their  masculine  wrath  did  not  prevent 
the  kings  indulging  in  the  worst  licence.  One  king 
used  to  insist  on  the  privilege  of  maiden  rights  ; 
another  not  only  furnished  his  harem  with  the  fairest 
maidens  of  noble  families,  but  supplied  his  relatives 
at  Peking  with  those  he  did  not  require  for  himself, 
and  created  such  a reign  of  terror  that  the  fathers 
of  attractive  daughters  among  the  nobles  were  forced 
to  hide  them  in  obscurity  ; another,  not  satisfied 
with  his  own  harem,  appropriated  that  of  his  dead 
father,  and  with  all  the  chosen  beauties  of  both 
harems  at  his  disposal  for  the  gratification  of  his 
lust,  he  used  to  wander  in  the  streets  at  night  and, 
entering  haphazard  the  houses  of  well-to-do  citizens. 


122 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


violate  the  daughters  who  took  his  fancy.  All  this 
time  the  people  groaned  under  an  intolerable  burden 
of  taxation,  which  was  always  being  increased  and 
the  proceeds  devoted  solely  to  the  licence  and 
extravagance  of  the  Court. 

At  the  head  of  the  Army  in  the  reign  of  the  last 
of  the  depraved  dynasty  was  Yi  Taijo,  who,  though 
of  noble  descent  from  an  old  Silla  family  and  the 
son  of  an  illustrious  soldier,  owed  his  position  entirely 
to  his  own  merits  and  services.  He  was  as  virtuous 
as  he  was  brave  and  wise.  He  had  especially  dis- 
tinguished himself  against  the  Japanese  pirates,  whom 
he  often  routed  while  his  sovereign  was  passing  his 
time  in  alternate  hunting  and  debauchery.  Weary 
with  the  ills  of  the  nation,  which  he  had  in  vain 
tried  to  minimise,  he  formed  a conspiracy  with  his 
fellow-officers  ; and  though  the  King  was  his  own 
son-in-law,  he  forced  him  to  abdicate,  and  then 
banished  him  and  all  his  family  to  Kang  .Wha.  The 
throne  was  now  vacant.  There  was  no  one  in  the 
kingdom  so  fitted  to  fill  it  as  the  leader  of  the  con- 
spiracy, who  had  endeared  himself  to  all  the  people 
by  his  services  to  the  nation  and  by  his  wisdom  and 
his  goodness,  and  Yi  Taijo  was  acclaimed  as  King 
amidst  universal  rejoicing.  The  choice  of  the  people 
was  readily  ratified  by  the  Ming  Emperor,  whose 
sympathies  naturally  went  to  an  oppressed  people 
and  a leader  who  had  overthrown  an  unworthy  family 
of  tyrants  ; and  when  he  had  conferred  the  formal 
investiture  on  Yi  Taijo,  the  legal  confirmation  of  the 
latter’s  position  was  complete.  The  dynasty  founded 
by  Wang  Kien  in  935  thus  came  to  an  end  in  1392, 
there  having  been  in  all  thirty-three  sovereigns  of  the 
line.  That  founded  by  Yi  Taijo  was  destined  to 
even  a longer  life,  having  continued  to  our  own  day, 
and  being  only  closed  when  the  annexation  by  Japan 
extinguished  all  kingship  in  Korea. 


CHAPTER  VII 


CHOSEN— FIRST  PERIOD 

The  lives  of  the  founders  of  the  two  dynasties  of 
sovereigns  who  have  reigned  over  united  Korea 
present  many  similarities.  Both  were  soldiers  who 
by  their  bravery  and  skill  raised  themselves  from  a 
comparatively  humble  position  in  life  to  one  of  royal 
dignity.  Both  led  hard  and  strenuous  lives.  The 
personal  merits  and  national  services  of  both  endeared 
them  to  the  hearts  of  all  their  people  and  caused  their 
accession  to  be  received  by  all  classes  with  unanimous 
acclamations  of  joy,  in  the  hope,  in  the  first  case, 
that  a country  long  torn  by  civil  war  would  thence- 
forward enjoy  internal  peace  and  present  a united 
front  to  foreign  foes  ; in  the  second,  that  an  end 
would  be  put  to  a selfish  and  debauched  Court  that, 
in  the  last  century  of  its  existence,  had  wrought  untold 
miseries  on  a misgoverned  and  oppressed  people. 
Both  attained  their  final  dignities  when  far  advanced 
in  life,  and  both  lived  to  enjoy  and  utilise  them  only 
for  a few  brief  years. 

Taijo’s  first  act  on  coming  to  the  throne  was  to 
found  a new  capital.  When  the  present  Emperor 
of  Japan  resumed,  after  the  lapse  of  many  centuries, 
the  direct  control  of  the  administration  of  his  Empire 
and  founded  what  was  practically  a new  Government, 
it  was  considered  politically  advisable  to  change  the 
Imperial  capital,  and  the  seat  of  government  was 
removed  from  the  old  city  of  Kioto  to  the  modern 

123 


124 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


Yedo  (Tokio).  A similar  spirit  seems  to  have 
actuated  the  Korean  statesmen  at  each  change  of 
dynasty.  When  Silla,  the  last  of  the  three  kingdoms 
which  shared  the  peninsula,  fell,  its  historic  capital, 
Kyun  Ju,  rich  though  it  was  in  architectural  splen- 
dours and  in  all  the  luxuries  of  life,  was  abandoned 
in  favour  of  Sunto,  and  there  the  successors  of 
.Wang  Kien  held  their  Court  during  four  hundred 
years.  When  the  last  degraded  representative  of  the 
Wang  dynasty  was  deposed  in  favour  of  that  of  the 
Taijo,  it  was  again  considered  advisable  that  a new 
capital  should  be  chosen,  that  the  last  traces  of  the 
old  dynasty  should  be  erased,  and  a new  departure 
made  locally  as  well  as  politically.  Notwithstanding 
all  that  the  inhabitants  of  Sunto  had  suffered  from  the 
last  member  of  the  old  dynasty,  they  had  known 
him  and  his  predecessors  as  their  sovereigns  for  four 
hundred  years  ; their  city  had  shared  in  the  reflected 
glory  of  the  Throne,  and  they  could  not  be  easily 
reconciled  to  their  new  sovereign,  however  great 
were  his  merits.  This  sentimental  attachment  to  the 
old  dynasty  has  lasted  even  to  the  present  day  ; and 
though  over  five  hundred  years  have  passed,  the 
inhabitants  of  Sunto  still  cling  to  the  memories  of  the 
good  old  days  when  their  city  was  a splendid  capital, 
and,  forgetting  the  infamies  of  their  predecessors, 
still  look  on  the  Taijo  as  usurpers,  and  were  to  the 
last  regarded  by  the  Taijo  sovereigns  as  unworthy 
of  their  confidence. 

The  change  in  Korea  was  greater  than  that  which 
our  own  day  has  witnessed  in  Japan.  The  Emperor 
of  Japan  only  moved  from  one  great  city  to  another, 
less  dignified  in  its  memories  and  less  venerable 
in  all  its  religious  and  historical  associations,  but 
already  wealthier,  more  splendid  and  prosperous  than 
the  one  he  had  left.  Taijo  had  to  found  his  new 
capital  by  building  a new  city  where  there  was  only 


CHOSEN— FIRST  PERIOD 


125 


a village  before.  The  site  chosen  is  a high  testi- 
monial to  his  strategic  skill,  his  commercial  instincts, 
his  regard  for  historic  associations,  and  his  taste  for 
natural  beauties,  a taste  which  he  shared  with  all  his 
countrymen,  who,  in  their  love  of  all  that  is  beautiful 
in  Nature,  are  second  only  to  the  Japanese.  Kioto 
and  Edinburgh  are  rivals  in  their  claims  to  be  the 
most  picturesquely  situated  cities  in  the  world.  The 
capital  of  Korea,  on  the  banks  of  the  wide  and  swiftly 
flowing  River  Han,  encircled,  except  where  the  river 
flows,  by  picturesque  hills,  almost  worthy  of  the  name 
of  mountains,  falls  little  behind  either,  though  its 
physical  characteristics  are  unlike  both.  It  lies 
almost  in  the  heart  of  the  kingdom,  nearly  equidistant 
from  the  extreme  north  and  south  ; it  is  connected 
with  the  sea  by  one  of  the  very  few  navigable  rivers 
in  Korea  ; from  the  military  point  of  view  it  is  strong 
both  in  itself  and  in  its  outposts  ; and  in  its  historic 
memories  it  had  equal  claims  to  the  sentiments  of 
the  descendants  of  all  the  three  ancient  kingdoms, 
as  it  lay  near  the  frontiers  where  all  three  met.  Taijo 
called  his  new  capital  Han  Yang  (the  Fortress  on  the 
Han)  ; but  just  as  the  old  Imperial  capital  of  Japan 
was  popularly  known,  not  by  its  ancient  title  of 
Heianjo  (the  Castle  of  Peace)  but  as  Miyako,  so 
Han  Yang  came  to  be  spoken  of  only  as  Seoul,  both 
Japanese  and  Korean  words  having  the  same 
meaning,  “ the  capital.” 

With  the  change  of  his  capital  the  new  King 
changed  also  the  name  of  his  kingdom.  From  the 
unification  it  had  been  known  as  Korai,  the  title  of 
the  far-away  district  north  of  the  Sungari  from  which, 
according  to  the  accepted  myths,  the  founder  of  the 
Korean  race  originally  migrated,  and  afterwards  of 
the  vigorous  kingdom  of  the  north  which  so  long 
resisted  the  might  of  China.  Taijo  reverted  to  the 
still  older  title  of  the  Kingdom  of  Ki  Tse,  and  decreed 


126 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


that  his  kingdom  should  henceforward  be  known  as 
Chosen,  the  name  by  which  their  country  has  since 
been  spoken  of  by  the  people,  and  by  which  it 
has  been  known  to  their  Chinese  and  Japanese 
neighbours. 

The  building  of  the  new  capital  proceeded  apace, 
and  it  was  soon  girdled  with  a crenelated  wall,  vary- 
ing from  25  to  40  feet  in  height,  which  winds  over 
the  hills  and  ravines  on  which  the  city  is  built  for 
a total  distance  of  14  miles,  and,  with  all  its  original 
gateways,  remains  to  this  day.  There  are  eight 
gateways  in  all,  each  capped  with  one  or  two-storied 
pavilions  and  closed  by  heavy  wooden  gates.  Two 
hundred  thousand  men  were  employed  in  its  construc- 
tion. Some  of  the  gates  were  only  opened  on  rare 
and  special  occasions,  such  as  for  the  egress  of  the 
King  if  it  ever  became  necessary  for  him  to  take 
refuge  in  the  mountain  fortress  of  Pak-han,  and  all 
were  rigidly  closed  from  the  hour  at  which  the  curfew 
was  rung  on  the  great  city  bell  till  dawn,  between 
which  hours  neither  rank  nor  money,  neither  cajolery 
nor  bullying  would  procure  admission  for  the  belated 
traveller.  .While  devoting  himself  to  the  building  of 
the  capital,  the  new  King  did  not  neglect  the  political 
reorganisation  of  the  State.  For  administrative  pur- 
poses the  whole  country  was  divided  into  eight 
provinces,  which,  though  five  of  them  have  recently 
been  subdivided  by  the  Japanese  into  two,  each  re- 
taining its  old  name  with  the  addition  of  North 
or  South,  have  continued  as  they  were  first  de- 
liminated  down  to  our  own  day.  Buddhism,  much 
though  the  country  owed  to  it  for  its  first  civilisation, 
in  later  years  had  proved  nothing  but  a curse  through 
the  arrogance,  tyranny,  and  licence  of  the  priests. 
It  therefore  now  fell  on  evil  days,  and  its  influence 
and  power  were  curbed. 

China  was  now  governed  by  a sovereign  of  its 


VIKW  OI-  SHOl  l.,  I.ooKINi;  TOWARDS  THK  SOLTHKRX  MorNTAIX. 
(hroni  L\<fyrighl,  l ndtni\\\l  ■ riuUnu\ul,  I.on.K^n.) 


To  lacc  p.  126 


CHOSEN— FIRST  PERIOD 


127 


own  people,  and  no  longer  lay  prostrate  beneath  the 
descendants  of  semi-savage  northern  warriors  ; the 
indigenous  civilisation  and  literature  of  China  were 
eagerly  cultivated  at  Peking,  and  as  the  Ming  emperor 
had  promptly  recognised  the  new  Korean  dynasty, 
Korea,  both  in  gratitude  and  for  her  own  sake,  fol- 
lowed the  Peking  fashion.  Confucianism  became  her 
recognised  religion  and  the  basis  of  her  moral  ethics 
instead  of  Buddhism.  Success  in  examinations  in 
Chinese  literature,  with  its  consequent  degrees,  was 
made  the  sole  passport  to  official  employment  ; the 
system  of  taxation  was  equitably  reformed,  and  the 
whole  military  system  reorganised,  so  that  the  army 
became  a reality  instead  of  what  it  had  been  under 
the  last  of  the  Yangs,  a rabble  that  was  impotent 
against  foreign  foes,  and  a terror  only  to  the  peaceful 
citizens  of  its  own  country.  Feudalism  was  abolished. 
It  had  only  existed  in  a very  modified  form  in  Korea, 
but  some  nobles  had  gathered  around  them  such  large 
bands  of  armed  retainers  that,  under  the  preceding 
dynasty,  they  became  a danger  to  the  peace  of  the 
State,  often  using  their  power  against  the  Court. 
They  were  now  ordered  to  disband  these  retainers 
and  their  old  military  power  therefore  ceased  to  exist. 
Diplomatic  representations  were  made  to  Japan  to 
demand  the  repression  of  the  pirates,  whose  raids  still 
continued,  not  only  on  the  coasts  of  Korea  but  of 
China  ; but  Japan  was  at  this  time  in  a condition 
of  anarchy  which  rivalled  the  worst  days  of  Korea, 
and  its  Government,  even  if  willing,  was  helpless  to 
curb  its  own  lawless  subjects.  But  the  Korean 
soldiers,  well  drilled  and  equipped,  soon  became  a 
match  for  the  boldest  of  the  pirates,  and  not  only 
often  drove  them  off  with  heavy  loss,  but  pursued 
and  exterminated  them  upon  the  sea.  Three  ports 
in  the  south — principal  among  them  being  Fusan — 
were  declared  to  be  open  to  honest  Japanese  traders 


128 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


or  to  Government  missions,  and  the  entry  of  Japanese 
into  the  kingdom  otherwise  than  by  one  of  these 
ports  was  forbidden.  Some  of  these  reforms  were 
not  accomplished  during  Taijo’s  reign,  but  in  those 
of  his  sons  and  immediate  successors.  Taijo’s  own 
reign  lasted  only  for  seven  years,  when,  being  now 
far  advanced  in  years,  he  made  way  for  his  son 
by  abdicating. 

His  early  successors  were  all  rulers  who  showed 
themselves  worthy  of  their  descent,  and  under  them 
the  country  had  both  peace  that  was  unbroken,  save 
for  the  incursions  of  Japanese  raiders,  and  prosperity. 
To  some  of  them  it  still  owes  a deep  debt  of  grati- 
tude. Tai  jong  (1418-50),  the  younger  son  of  Taijo, 
and  the  third  of  the  line  to  reign,  first  conceived 
and  carried  out  the  idea  of  movable  copper  types. 
In  1403,  forty-seven  years  before  the  first  printing 
from  movable  type  was  known  in  Europe,  the  King 
said  to  his  attendants  : 

“ Whoever  is  desirous  of  governing  must  have  a wide  acquaintance 
with  books,  which  alone  will  enable  him  to  ascertain  principles  and 
perfect  his  own  character  and  to  attain  to  success  in  regulating  his 
conduct,  in  ordering  his  family  aright,  in  governing  and  tranquillis- 
ing  the  State.  Our  country  lies  beyond  the  seas,  and  but  few  books 
reach  us  from  China.  Block-cut  works  are  apt  to  be  imperfect,  and 
it  is,  moreover,  difficult  thus  to  print  all  the  books  that  exist.  I desire 
to  have  types  moulded  in  copper,  with  which  to  print  all  the  books 
that  I may  get  hold  of,  in  order  to  make  their  contents  widely  known. 
This  would  be  of  infinite  advantage.  But  as  it  would  not  be  right 
to  lay  the  burden  of  the  cost  upon  the  people,  I and  my  relations 
and  those  of  my  distinguished  officers  who  take  an  interest  in  the 
undertaking  ought  surely  to  be  able  to  accomplish  this.”  ‘ 

To  carry  out  the  suggestion,  the  King  contributed 
his  own  private  treasure  and  furnished  models  for 
the  types,  and  within  a few  months  several  hundred 

' Satow,  “Notes  on  Movable  Types  in  Korea.”  Transactions  of 
the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan,  vol.  x. 


CHOSEN— FIRST  PERIOD 


129 


thousand  were  cast.  His  two  successors  on  the 
throne  developed  what  he  had  done  and  caused  new 
founts  to  be  cast,  which  exceeded  the  first  both  in 
fineness  of  workmanship  and  in  size,  so  much  so 
that,  in  the  words  of  a contemporary  scholar,  “ it 
would  be  impossible  to  add  to  the  perfection  of 
the  workmanship.  Henceforward  there  will  be  no 
book  left  unprinted  and  no  man  who  does  not  learn. 
Literature  and  religion  will  make  daily  progress  and 
the  cause  of  morality  must  gain  enormously.”  Not 
only  books  printed  from  these  founts  are  still  in 
existence,  but  even  some  of  the  very  type  cast  by 
Tai  jong.  Printing  from  movable  type  made  of  clay 
as  well  as  xylography  had  been  long  previously 
known  in  China,  but  the  Koreans  are  entitled  to  the 
credit  of  having  been  the  first  to  use  the  clearer 
and  more  durable  metal  type. 

The  same  sovereign  displayed  his  readiness  to 
sacrifice  his  own  personal  comfort  for  the  benefit 
of  his  people  in  other  ways  than  by  devoting  his 
treasure  to  the  casting  of  type.  In  the  year  1401, 
the  first  of  his  reign,  there  was  famine  in  the  land. 
The  national  alcoholic  drink  of  the  Koreans  is,  as  is 
that  of  the  Japanese,  brewed  from  rice,  and  in  order 
that  all  the  grain  might  be  spared  for  food,  the  King 
ordered  that  brewing  should  temporarily  cease. 
When  he  found  that  his  orders  were  not  obeyed, 
he  concluded  that  it  was  because  drink  was  still 
served  in  the  Court,  and  he  therefore  ordered  that  its 
use  should  cease  even  there.  With  this  example 
before  them,  the  people  could  no  longer  indulge 
themselves  in  what  their  sovereign  abstained  from, 
and  his  first  orders  were  then  readily  obeyed.  His 
son  and  successor,  Se  jong  (1450-2),  was  a worthy 
follower  of  his  great  father.  Great  though  the  benefit 
conferred  on  his  people  by  his  father  in  his  inven- 
tion of  movable  type  and  the  diffusion  of  literature 

9 


130 


'THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


that  followed,  it  was  surpassed  by  what  the  son 
achieved  in  inventing,  with  the  assistance  of  some  of 
the  literati  of  the  Court,  the  Korean  alphabet,  the 
On-mun,  which  is  pronounced  by  expert  sinologues 
to  be  one  of  the  most  perfect  alphabets  in  the  world. 
The  father’s  types  were  only  used  for  the  printing 
of  Chinese  ideographs,  the  knowledge  of  which  is  the 
necessary  accomplishment,  not  only  of  every  scholar 
but  of  every  gentleman  in  the  three  far  Eastern 
nations  — China,  Japan,  and  Korea — and  a limited 
knowledge  of  which  is  an  essential  part  of  even  an 
elementary  education.  Both  Koreans  and  Japanese 
owed  their  first  acquaintance  with  the  art  of  writing 
to  China,  and  in  both  countries  all  writing  was,  for 
many  centuries,  confined  to  the  system  of  ideographs, 
which  is  all  that  the  Chinese  have  to  the  present  day. 
Its  acquisition  to  a degree  which  enables  the  student 
to  read  anything  but  the  most  elementary  books  is 
a long  and  laborious  task,  demanding  almost  the 
whole  of  the  first  decade  of  a schoolboy’s  life,  and 
many  never  go  beyond  the  first  steps.  Women, 
almost  universally,  irrespective  of  rank  or  occupation, 
were  also  content  with  a very  limited  knowledge  of 
the  ideographs.  To  all  these  classic  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  current  literature  were  sealed  books.  The 
Japanese  eased  the  difficulty  in  some  degree  by  the 
invention  of  their  syllabaries,  but  the  Korean  king 
achieved  a far  more  scientific  and  beneficial  triumph 
by  giving  to  his  people  an  alphabet  that  was  equally 
easy  to  acquire  and  apply. 

The  seventh  King,  Sijo  (1456-69),  acquired  the 
throne  by  deposing  and  murdering  the  rightful 
occupant,  a boy,  but  made  such  amends  for  his  crime 
by  a vigorous  reign,  characterised  by  reforms  as 
beneficial  as  they  were  drastic,  that  his  crime  is 
forgotten  and  only  his  merits  remembered  by  the 
Koreans,  and  the  succession  of  able,  upright,  and 


1 


-O  A^ 

T®^'*  /|>":^'5'S’'^°^®'''ll5ri»'®< 

o^  w(';roi  '3TVj>  w\» 

't  '7^^^'j^^  'o's* 

I V<N 

I ' 

j /TP'^'XTTo/tt^r/p' 


{ 


^ <X  z:^ 'X ^ i TT' 


LETTER  (facsimile)  FROM  LADY  OF  THE  COURT,  WRITTEN  IN  ON-MUN.”  (P'or  translation  See  page  319.) 


132 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


active  sovereigns  of  the  Taijo  line  was  only  broken 
for  the  first  time  in  1494,  when  King  Yunsan,  the 
eleventh  of  the  line,  came  to  the  throne,  102  years 
after  the  accession  of  the  founder  of  the  line. 

His  mother,  who  was  raised  from  the  position 
of  concubine  to  that  of  queen,  was  a woman  of 
violent  temper,  who  was  degraded  and  banished  from 
Court  for  having  scratched  the  King’s  face  in  a fit 
of  jealousy.  She  left  to  her  son  the  legacy  of 
avenging  her,  and  his  first  act  when  he  came  to  the 
throne  at  the  age  of  twenty  was  to  sentence  to  death, 
not  only  every  one  who  had  taken  any  part,  no 
matter  how  insignificant  or  remote,  in  his  mother’s 
fall,  but  also,  as  was  the  custom  at  the  time,  all  their 
families  and  households,  relatives  of  any  degree, 
wives,  children,  servants,  and  slaves.  Even  death 
was  not  a barrier  against  his  anger.  The  sanctity 
of  the  tomb  is  in  China  and  Korea  tenfold  what  it 
is  in  Europe.  No  greater  outrage  can  be  committed 
than  that  of  disturbing  the  remains  of  father  or 
ancestor,  and  when  this  takes  place,  no  matter  how 
innocent  of  any  share  in  it  son  or  descendants  may 
be,  disaster  and  punishment  are  sure  to  fall  on  them. 
Disturbance  of  graves  has  always  been  one  of  the 
greatest  obstacles  to  railway  development  in  China, 
and  would  have  been  in  Korea  had  the  people  dared 
to  raise  their  hands  or  voices  against  the  Japanese, 
to  whom  the  introduction  of  railways  into  Korea 
is  owing,  and  who  constructed  the  principal  lines 
in  time  of  war.  The  young  King  opened  the  graves 
of  his  mother’s  persecutors,  who  had  died  before  his 
accession,  and  dismembered  and  flung  the  fragments 
of  their  bodies  on  the  dustheaps.  Women,  horses, 
dogs,  and  falcons  alike  appealed  to  his  tastes,  and  the 
fairest  of  women  and  the  best  of  animals  were  sought 
for  and  taken  throughout  the  whole  country.  No  one 
was  safe  against  his  lust,  cruelty,  and  cupidity,  and 


CHOSEN— FIRST  PERIOD 


133 


no  ties  of  relationship  were  a bar  to  their  gratifica- 
tion. At  last,  after  eleven  years  of  misrule,  he  was 
deposed  and  banished.  His  successor  was  his  half- 
brother.  At  his  accession  a curious  instance  was 
furnished  of  the  Oriental  practice  of  extending  the 
guilt  of  an  offender  to  his  family.  The  new  King’s 

wife  was  a daughter  of  one  of  the  late  King’s 
creatures  who  had  aided  him  in  his  misdeeds.  He 
had  fallen  with  his  master,  and  the  ministry  now 
insisted  that  his  daughter  should  share  his  fate,  and 
the  King,  though  devoted  to  his  wife,  was  forced 
to  submit  and  replace  her  by  another. 

The  new  King  inherited  all  the  best  qualities  of  his 
father  as  a governor  and  reformer,  and  the  example 
of  his  own  life  had  such  effect  on  the  people  that 
his  reign,  which  extended  over  forty  years,  earned 
the  title  of  the  “ Golden  Age  of  Korean  morals.” 

“ The  people,  revolting  from  the  excesses  of  the  depraved  King, 
took  on  a Puritan  simplicity.  Men  and  women  walked  on  opposite 
sides  of  the  street.  If  any  article  was  dropped  on  the  road,  no  one 
would  touch  it,  but  would  leave  it  for  the  owner  to  recover.  No  one 
had  to  lock  his  doors  at  night.”  ' 

Two  important  incidents  of  his  reign  have  to  be 
mentioned — the  first,  a Japanese  defeat  ; the  second, 
a persecution  of  Buddhists.  The  Japanese  settlers 
at  Fusan  broke  out  in  riot,  not  without  some  reason, 
against  the  local  Korean  authorities,  and  for  a short 
time  gave  in  the  district  a very  colourable  imitation 
of  the  worst  of  the  pirate  raiders.  The  strong  King 
and  Government  were  prompt  in  their  measures.  The 
rioters,  attacked  on  land  and  their  flight  cut  off  by 
sea,  were  exterminated.  This  was  in  1512.  From 
this  year  until  1573  there  was  no  diplomatic  inter- 
course between  Korea  and  Japan,  and  the  commercial 
intercourse  was  almost  nil,  carried  on  by  a few 

' Hulbert,  “ History  of  Korea,”  vol.  i.  p.  320. 


134 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


straggling  Japanese  settlers  who  were  rigidly  con- 
fined to  Fusan.  It  was  in  Japan  the  worst  period 
of  anarchy  in  its  history,  in  which  the  whole  Empire 
from  end  to  end  was  seething  in  the  worst  passions 
and  miseries  of  civil  war.  In  1573  order  was 
restored  under  the  dictatorship  of  Nobunaga,'  and 
there  was  a commercial  revival.  The  settlement  at 
Fusan  was  extended  and  a brisker  interchange  of 
products  originated,  but  still  the  Governments  of  the 
two  countries  kept  aloof. 

It  was  in  this  reign  that  the  repression  or  perse- 
cution of  Buddhism  reached  its  apogee.  The 
literati,  disciples  of  Confucius  and  profound  students 
of  the  classics,  had  been  gradually  growing  in 
influence  and,  through  schools  in  every  province, 
spread  his  doctrines  and  maxims  among  all  classes. 
Buddhism  was  gradually  eliminated  ; the  temples  and 
monasteries  were  closed,  the  priests  forbidden  to 
enter  the  capital  ; they  were  also  forbidden  to  cele- 
brate marriages  or  funerals.  Later  kings  who 
attempted  to  stem  the  tide  of  illiberality  or  to  restore 
the  ancient  religion  were  deposed  and  exiled. 

Tiie  happy,  golden  days  of  Chung  Jong  were 
followed  by  a dark  period  when,  in  the  minority  of 
his  successor,  his  mother  governed  as  regent  and 
was  under  the  influence  of  unworthy  favourites  ; but 
we  may  pass  over  the  interim  until  the  year  1575. 
In  that  year  a quarrel  occurred  between  two  powerful 
nobles  of  the  Court,  caused  by  one  obtaining  an 
honour  to  which  the  other  considered  he  had  better 
claims.  All  their  retainers,  friends,  and  dependents 
were  drawn  into  the  quarrel,  and  the  result  was  the 
formation  of  two  rival  parties  among  the  nobility, 
which  germinated  such  bitterness  that  the  rivalry 
became  permanent,  and  the  parties,  afterwards  sub- 
divided into  four,  have  ever  since  survived.  It  is 
' Vide,  “The  Story  of  Old  Japan.’’ 


liUDiJHIST  MOXASTKUY  AND  MONKS. 

{h'rom  StcrtoftTitph  Copyrifiht,  I'niUruvoti  S'  L’mUr  i'Ocd.  London.) 


To  face  p.  134. 


CHOSEN— FIRST  PERIOD 


135 


to  their  antagonism,  which  never  permitted  them  to 
sink  party  spirit  in  national  patriotism,  which  placed 
party  membership  far  above  merit  and  far  below 
guilt,  which  was  the  fountain  of  as  wretched  mis- 
government  as  the  world  has  ever  seen,  that  all  the 
subsequent  woes  of  Korea  are  as  much  owing  as  to 
aught  else.  The  two  parties  first  formed  adopted 
the  titles  of  Easterners  and  Westerners.  Some  years 
later  an  incident  occurred  as  trivial  as  any  of  those 
which  during  the  last  two  centuries  were  the  causes 
of  the  formation  of  the  Irish  factions,  the  members 
of  which  could  never  meet  at  fairs,  races,  funerals, 
or  other  celebrations  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  Irish 
peasant,  without  fighting,  or  of  the  inter-regimental 
feuds  that  formerly  existed  between  certain  regi- 
ments of  his  Majesty’s  Army.  The  Irish  faction 
quarrels  were  always  local  ; those  of  the  British 
regiments  concerned  no  one  but  themselves  and  the 
police,  who  often  suffered  while  the  soldiers  were 
settling  their  differences  in  orthodox  British  style  ; 
but  the  results  of  the  Korean  squabble  were  national. 
Two  further  rival  Court  parties  were  formed,  who 
dubbed  themselves  Southerners  and  Northerners. 
The  Southerners  subsequently  absorbed  the  East- 
erners, and  while  these  two  formed  one  party 
the  Northerners  split  into  two,  distinguished  as 
the  Great  and  Little  Northerners.  The  Great 
Northerners  afterwards  became  involved  in  a con- 
spiracy against  the  King  and  the  majority  of  its 
members  suffered  the  death  penalty,  families  being, 
as  usual,  included  in  the  pimishment  of  the  head,  so 
that  the  members  of  the  party  were  almost  extermi- 
nated, the  few  survivors  seeking  refuge  in  the  ranks 
of  the  Little  Northerners.  There  were  then  three 
parties  in  the  Court,  Westerners,  Southerners,  and 
Little  Northerners,  and  this  division  lasted  for  nearly 
a hundred  years. 


136 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


Then  a further  cleavage  took  place,  the  cause — a 
dispute  between  a teacher  and  his  pupil,  both  belong- 
ing to  the  Westerners,  as  to  the  proper  wording  of 
an  epitaph — again  being  trivial  in  the  extreme, 
strongly  testifying  to  the  absolute  banalities  which 
occupied  the  minds  and  were  magnified  into  great 
questions  by  the  Korean  courtiers.  The  Westerners 
were  now  divided  into  Elders  ” and  “ Juniors,” 
the  respective  backers  of  the  teacher  and  the  pupil 
in  their  literary  differences.  The  four  parties  as  last 
constituted — “Elders,”  “Juniors,”  “Southerners,” 
and  “ Little  Northerners  ” — survived  until  the  present 
generation,  and  their  influence  was  not  dead  even 
at  the  annexation  ; the  most  powerful  were  the 
Southerners  and  the  Elders.  Every  noble  was 
obliged  to  belong  to  one  or  other  of  the  four,  and 
the  membership  was  always  hereditary,  the  son  join- 
ing the  party  to  which  his  father  had  belonged  in 
his  lifetime.* 

Political  parties  in  other  countries  have  always  a 
well-defined  political  platform,  and  however  much 
their  members  may  be  inwardly  influenced  by  the 
possession  or  expectation  of  well-paid  offices,  out- 
wardly they  are  influenced  solely  by  what  each  con- 
siders the  good  of  the  country.  No  such  shallow 
pretence  ever  actuated  or  was  ever  professed  by  the 
Korean  politicians.  The  sole  object  of  all  parties  was 
Oiffice,  and  as  all  offices  were  in  the  gift  of  the  King 
the  attainment  of  his  favour  was  a means  to  office. 
No  merit,  no  ability,  no  national  service  on  the  part 
of  the  holder  ever  stood  in  the  way  of  a member 
of  an  opposite  party  endeavouring  to  oust  him  by 
fair  means  or  by  foul,  by  assassination,  by  false 
charges  supported  by  suborned  evidence,  or  by 
bribery  of  the  King’s  concubines  or  relatives.  One 
illustration  only  need  be  quoted.  It  will  be  told  in 

* Dallet,  “ Histoire  de  I’Eglise  de  Coree,”  vol.  i.  introduction. 


CHOSEN— FIRST  PERIOD 


137 


the  next  chapter  how,  when  Korea  lay  prostrate  at  the 
feet  of  the  Japanese  invaders,  when  her  King  was 
a fugitive  and  her  capital  occupied  by  the  enemy, 
when  her  future,  shrouded  in  apparently  hopeless 
darkness,  seemed  to  be  that  of  a Japanese  province, 
the  entire  outlook  was  changed  and  the  country  saved 
by  the  bravery  and  genius  of  one  admiral.'  It  might 
have  been  expected  that  the  nation  would  as  one 
man  have  acclaimed  the  hero  who  had  saved  them, 
and  that  no  party  spirit  would  have  stood  in  the 
way  of  heaping  on  him  the  honours  he  had  so  well 
deserved.  . Not  so.  He  was  not  of  the  party  who 
were  around  the  King,  who,  while  he  was  fighting 
on  the  seas,  were  cowering  and  quibbling  far  away 
from  the  enemy  amidst  the  comforts  of  the  Court. 
The  King’s  jealousy  was  stimulated  against  him,  and 
the  reward  which  the  Nelson  of  Korea  received  for 
his  great  services  was  that  of  reduction  to  the  ranks 
of  common  seamen.  The  country  had  afterwards  to 
pay  dearly  for  the  miserable  ingratitude  of  the  King 
and  the  political  malignity  of  the  courtiers. 

If  the  “ outs  ” were  unscrupulous  in  their  methods 
of  ousting  the  “ ins,”  the  latter  were  equally  so  in 
their  own  defence.  They  rigorously  excluded  their 
rivals  from  access  to  the  King  and  availed  themselves 
of  every  pretext  to  condemn  them  to  death  or  exile. 
Whether  an  attempt  to  oust  the  “ ins  ” failed  or 

succeeded,  the  result  in  one  respect  was  the  same, 

no  mercy  was  shown  to  the  losers.  The  Confucian 

maxim  that  ‘‘  the  same  canopy  of  Heaven  cannot 

shelter  the  son  or  servant  of  an  injured  father  or 
master  and  his  wrongdoer  ” was  even  more  pre- 
dominant in  Korean  than  in  Japanese  ethics,  and 
the  vendetta,  carried  to  its  most  bitter  end,  was  not 
the  least  of  the  national  ills  that  followed  on  the 

• Vide,  p.  i68. 


138 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


party  system.  The  son  of  a murdered  or  exiled  father 
was  bound  by  the  most  sacred  obligations  of  religion 
and  honour  to  see  that  his  enemy  met  with  the  same 
fate.  The  whole  foundation  of  religion,  now  that 
Buddhism  was  dispossessed  of  all  its  hold,  was  the 
worship  of  ancestors,  and  whosoever  did  not  avenge 
the  wrongs  of  his  father  was  forsworn,  had  forfeited 
his  right  to  bear  his  name. 

" The  noble  who  lost  life  or  office  through  the  machinations  of  an 
enemy  bequeathed  the  duty  of  revenge  to  his  descendants.  Often 
he  put  upon  them  an  outward  symbol  of  their  oath.  He  would,  for 
example,  give  to  his  son  a coat  with  the  order  never  to  disrobe 
himself  of  it  till  the  vengeance  was  taken.  The  son  wore  it  always, 
and  if  he  died  before  his  task  was  accomplished,  he,  in  his  turn, 
transmitted  it  to  his  son  on  the  same  condition.  It  is  no  uncommon 
thing  to  see  nobles  clad  in  rags  which,  for  two  or  three  generations, 
have  night  and  day  reminded  them  of  the  debt  of  blood  that  has  to 
be  paid  before  the  souls  of  their  ancestors  can  be  at  rest.”  ’ 

The  vendetta,  with  its  inexorable  claims,  con- 
tributed no  small  quota  to  the  political  distractions 
that  ensued  from  the  never-ending  party  squabbles, 
and  combined  with  them  to  render  efficient  govern- 
ment impossible. 

• Dallet,  “ Histoire  de  I’Eglise  de  Coree,”  vol.  i.  introduction. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION  : THE  FIRST  STAGE 

VVe  have  now  arrived  at  that  period  in  her  history  at 
which  Korea  may  be  said  to  have  started  on  her 
downward  path.  For  two  centuries  she  had  been 
governed  by  a dynasty  of  sovereigns  who  furnished 
many  strong  and  capable  rulers  ; and  though  they 
always  acknowledged  themselves  to  be  and  acted  as 
the  vassals  of  China,  they  at  the  same  time  claimed 
and  exercised  the  rights  and  privileges  of  perfectly 
independent  sovereigns,  both  in  the  administration 
of  their  own  kingdom  and  in  their  relations  with 
Japan,  the  only  foreign  country  beside  China  with 
which  they  were  acquainted.  Throughout  these  two 
centuries  Korea  had  enjoyed  peace  that  was  only 
interrupted  by  the  occasional  raids  of  Japanese 
pirates,  which,  however  disastrous  to  the  localities 
which  suffered  from  them,  were  insignificant  from 
a national  point  of  view.  She  had  made  great 
advances  in  civilisation  and  prosperity.  Polite  learn- 
ing, as  typified  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Chinese 
classics,  was  universal  among  the  higher  classes,  while 
among  the  lower  many  of  her  artisans  had  attained  a 
high  degree  of  technical  and  artistic  skill.  Both 
her  agricultural  and  fishing  industries  were  sources  of 
considerable  wealth,  and  her  people,  homogeneous, 
industrious,  intelligent,  and  tranquil,  lived  in  physical 
comfort  and  security. 

Peace,  however,  if  it  had  its  blessings,  had  also  its 
national  disadvantages,  one  of  which  was  that  the 

139 


140 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


military  system  had  from  disuse  and  neglect  fallen  into 
a state  of  utter  inefficiency.  The  whole  people  were 
included  in  two  classes,  and  two  classes  only — on  one 
side  the  nobles  and  on  the  other  the  commoners,  who 
were  mere  serfs,  the  property  of  the  nobles,  to  be  dis- 
posed of  at  their  will,  as  freely  as  any  of  their  inani- 
mate possessions.  The  nobles  were  solely  occupied  in 
political  intrigue,  those  who  were  in  the  favour  of 
the  King  and  held  office  for  the  time  being  striving 
to  retain  it,  and  those  who  were  not  giving  all  their 
thought,  energy,  and  time  to  ousting  their  more 
fortunate  compeers.  Patriotism  was  sacrificed  to  the 
selfish  desire  of  personal  aggrandisement,  and,  relying 
on  the  long -continued  immunity  from  foreign  aggres- 
sion and,  as  an  ultimate  safeguard,  on  the  protection 
of  the  suzerain  China,  the  national  defences  were  per- 
mitted to  fall  into  the  lowest  abysses  of  decay.  City 
walls  and  castles  were  unrepaired.  The  national 
militia  was  untrained  and  unequipped.  Formerly 
every  province  had  its  own  annual  training  under  com- 
petent officers,  but  now  the  men  were  only  assembled 
at  long  intervals  in  small  force  in  their  nearest  towns 
or  villages,  where  neither  officers  nor  men  had  any 
opportunity  of  learning  the  science  and  duties  of  an 
army.  That  the  Koreans  retained  no  small  degree  of 
the  military  spirit  and  courage  of  which  they  had 
given  so  many  proofs  in  the  past  ; that  they  possessed 
sailors  not  only  bold  and  skilful  but  with  tactical 
and  inventive  genius,  they  were  soon  to  show  ; but  no 
country  suddenly  called  upon  to  face  an  invasion 
of  a powerful  foe  was  ever  less  prepared  to  meet 
it  than  was  Korea  when  that  which  we  are  now 
about  to  describe  burst  upon  her. 

Japan  was  at  this  time  governed,  in  the  name  of 
her  Emperor,  by  the  regent  Hideyoshi,  the  greatest 
and  ablest  of  all  the  military  adventurers  who 
throughout  seven  centuries  usurped  the  administrative 


HIDEYOSHFS  INVASION 


141 


functions  of  the  Empire  and  kept  their  legitimate 
sovereigns  in  impotent  seclusion  in  their  palaces  at 
Kioto.  A man  who  had  risen  from  the  very  lowest 
class  of  the  people,  the  son  of  one  of  the  humblest 
of  peasants,  and  in  his  own  youth  a groom,  he  had 
by  courage  and  genius  raised  himself  to  the  position 
of  the  highest  subject  in  the  Empire,  who  held  un- 
challenged in  his  own  hands  all  the  power  and 
authority  of  a supreme  Governor.  For  three  cen- 
turies Japan  had  been  torn  from  end  to  end  by  civil 
war,  carried  on  with  merciless,  even  savage,  cruelty. 
From  1333,  when  the  Hojos  fell,  till  1590,  when 
Hideyoshi  finally  triumphed  over  the  last  of  the  great 
feudal  barons  who  had  dared  to  oppose  him,  and, 
seated  on  what  was  only  not  a throne  in  name,  had 
brought  every  fief  throughout  the  country  under  his 
undisputed  sway,  it  may  safely  be  said  that  peace 
had  been  unknown  within  her  border.  Whatever 
Germany  suffered  throughout  the  Thirty  Years  War 
in  the  miseries  of  her  people  and  the  devastation 
and  ruin  of  her  fields  and  cities  finds  its  parallel 
in  what  Japan  suffered,  not  for  thirty  but  for  over 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years.  But  the  miseries  of  the 
people  had  their  counterbalancing  advantages  in  the 
influence  war  exerted  on  the  national  character. 

As  the  Koreans  were  now,  so  had  the  mass  of  the 
Japanese  people  been  serfs  in  the  past  ; and  they 
were  again,  under  the  influence  of  long,  unbroken 
peace  within  their  own  borders  and  immunity  from 
foreign  aggression,  destined  to  become  once  more 
little  better  than  abject  serfs,  whose  lives  and 
property  were  alike  at  the  mercy  of  feudal  chiefs 
who  knew  no  mercy  when  it  clashed  with  their  own 
interests  or  selfish  pleasures.  But  at  this  time  the 
Japanese  were  not  only  a nation  of  soldiers  but  one 
of  veterans,  inured  to  warfare  and  masters  of  its 
science.  In  the  past,  as  it  was  to  be  again  in  the 


142 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


future,  soldiers  were  a limited  and  highly  privileged 
class.  Only  one  small  section  of  the  people  were 
permitted  to  wear  arms  or  expected  to  use  them  even 
in  the  highest  duty  of  a citizen,  the  defence  of  king 
and  country.  But  the  wastage  in  the  civil  wars 
of  those  who  were  soldiers  by  descent  had  thrown 
the  ranks  open  to  peasants  and  artisans,  even  to  the 
despised  traders,  whose  physique,  courage,  and  ambi- 
tion qualified  them  for  military  service,  and  all  three 
classes  had  given  ample  evidence — just  as  they  have 
done  in  the  present  generation — that  they  only  re- 
quired training  and  opportunity  to  become  converted 
into  as  formidable  fighting  men  as  were  those  who 
had  inherited  the  spirit  of  soldiers  from  a long  line 
of  military  ancestors  and  were  stimulated  by  the 
pride  of  caste  and  rank.  Hideyoshi  could  call  to 
his  standard  an  army  whose  efficiency  and  strength 
would  have  been  a legitimate  pride  to  any  general  in 
the  world,  and  he  had  abundance  of  experienced 
officers  devoted  to  his  service,  many  of  whom  had, 
as  he  himself,  risen  from  the  ranks. 

As  soon  as  his  own  future  was  secured,  Hideyoshi 
made  endeavours  to  induce  Korea  to  resume  the 
time-honoured  custom  of  sending  tribute-bearing 
embassies  to  Japan.  In  1587  he  accredited  as  his 
envoy  for  this  purpose  a retainer,  named  Yuyaji,  of 
the  Feudal  Lord  of  Tsushima,  who  proceeded  with 
a retinue  to  Seoul  ; but  the  choice  was  an  unfortunate 
one,  and  the  brusque  demeanour  of  the  envoy,  together 
with  the  presumptuous  tone  of  his  master’s  letter 
which  he  carried  with  him,  so  disgusted  the  Koreans 
that  they  peremptorily  refused  to  entertain  the  sug- 
gestion of  an  embassy  from  themselves.  They  said 
the  journey  was  too  long  and  too  dangerous.  The 
Japanese  envoy  on  his  return  to  his  own  country 
paid  dearly  for  his  uncouthness  as  a diplomatist  and 
the  failure  of  his  mission  ; for  not  only  he  but, 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


143 


according  to  the  custom  of  the  day  both  in  Japan  and 
Korea  in  the  case  of  offences  against  the  State,  all 
his  family  were  put  to  death. 

A second  mission  was  sent  in  the  following  year, 
the  envoy  this  time  being  Yoshitoki,  the  Feudal  Lord 
of  Tsushima,  the  hereditary  chief  of  his  unfortunate 
predecessor,  a young  noble  whose  tact  and  courtesy 
seem  to  have  been  as  marked  as  those  of  his  re- 
tainer were  the  reverse.  When  he  arrived  at  Seoul  he 
was  told  informally  that  no  favourable  answer  could 
be  given  to  his  request  until  certain  Korean  renegades 
in  Japan  who  had  acted  as  pilots  and  guides  to 
Japanese  pirates  in  their  raids  on  the  Korean  coasts 
were  surrendered.  The  envoy  promptly  sent  for  them 
to  Japan.  Eleven  were  brought  over  and  submitted 
to  the  tender  mercies  of  their  own  authorities,  from 
whom  they  received  a very  short  shrift.  Then  the 
Korean  Government  became  all  smiles,  and  consented 
that  the  old  custom  should  be  revived  and  that  an 
embassy,  properly  accredited,  should  accompany 
Yoshitoki  on  his  return  to  Japan. 

All  these  negotiations  occupied  considerable  time  ; 
for  it  was  not  till  the  spring  of  1590  that  the 
embassy,  which  included  three  ambassadors  and  a 
retinue  of  three  hundred  persons,  and  generally  was 
on  a scale  of  becoming  splendour,  started.  Its 
j'oumey  from  Seoul  to  Kioto,  which  can  now  be 
performed  in  less  than  three  days,  occupied  three  full 
months.  Hideyoshi  was,  at  the  time  of  its  arrival, 
occupied  in  the  last  of  his  domestic  campaigns — the 
subjugation  of  the  Hojo  of  Odowara,'  the  last  of  the 
territorial  barons  who  refused  to  recognise  his  dicta- 
torship until  compelled  to  do  so  by  force  of  arms, 
but  soon  returned  to  Kioto.  Even  then  the  ambas- 

‘ The  Hojo  of  Odowara  are  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  regents 
of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries.  Tliough  of  the  same 
name,  they  were  of  different  famihes  and  quite  different  positions. 


144 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


sadors,  whose  mission  had  been  so  desired  by  the 
parvenu,  were  not  admitted  to  his  presence,  and  it 
was  not  till  five  months  had  passed  from  their  arrival 
that  a formal  audience  was  granted  to  them. 

When  at  last  the  audience  was  granted,  Hideyoshi 
acted  in  a manner  which  outraged  all  the  ambas- 
sadors’ ideas,  not  only  of  the  courtesy  that  was  due 
to  them  as  the  personal  representatives  of  the 
sovereign  of  a friendly  State  but  of  ordinary  pro- 
priety, and  shocked  even  his  own  courtiers.  To 
his  discourtesy  at  the  audience  he  at  first  added  a 
refusal  to  send  a written  reply  to  the  letter  which 
the  ambassadors  had  borne  from  their  King,  and  it 
was  only  after  much  persuasion  by  his  own  ministers 
that  he  was  induced  to  write  one.  Even  then  it  had 
to  be  returned  to  him  for  mod,ification,  its  language 
being  so  offensive  that  the  ambassadors  refused  to 
receive  it  ; and  in  its  final  form  it  was  vulgar  in 
its  glorification  of  Hideyoshi’s  career,  which  was  com- 
pared to  “ the  rising  sun  illuminating  the  whole 
earth,”  and  offensive  to  Korea  in  the  open  threats 
that  it  contained  not  only  to  Korea  but  to  her  suze- 
rain, who  was  to  her  as  ” a father  to  his  son.”  Its 
closing  words  were  : 

“ I will  assemble  a mighty  host,  and  invading  the  country  of  the 
great  Ming,  I will  fill  with  the  hoar  frost  from  my  sword  the  whole 
sky  over  the  four  hundred  provinces.  Should  I carry  out  this 
purpose,  I hope  that  Korea  will  be  my  vanguard.  Let  her  not  fail 
to  do  so,  for  my  friendship  with  your  honourable  country  depends 
solely  on  your  conduct  when  I lead  my  army  against  China.”  ‘ 


‘ This  and  the  following  chapter  are  mainly  founded  on  Dr. 
Aston’s  history  of  the  invasion,  published  in  the  Transactions  of 
the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan,  vols.  vi.,  ix.,  and  xi.,  and  on  the  letters 
of  the  Jesuit  priests,  summarised  by  Charlevoix  and  in  Crasset’s 
“ History  of  the  Church  in  Japan,”  though  all  other  a\'ailable 
authorities  have  been  consulted.  Quotations  not  otherwise  noted  are 
from  Dr.  Aston’s  work. 


HIDEYOSHl’S  INVASION 


145 


The  Korean  ambassadors,  slaves  to  the  most  punc- 
tilious etiquette,  courteous  to  the  utmost  limits  in 
all  their  own  proceedings,  and  accustomed  to  the 
dignified  ceremonial  of  the  Chinese  Court,  returned 
to  their  own  country,  burning  with  indignant  resent- 
ment. They  had  come  to  Japan  at  Hideyoshi’s 
pressing  invitation.  They  had  revived  the  ancient 
custom  of  offering  tribute.  They  had  brought  with 
them  sincere  protestations  of  friendship  from  their 
sovereign,  and  they  had  met  with  nothing  but  rude- 
ness. Nor  was  their  indignation  lessened  when  they 
discovered,  as  they  did  during  their  stay,  that  tail 
they  had  suffered  was  at  the  hands,  not,  as  they 
imagined,  of  a King  the  equal  in  birth  and  rank  of 
their  own  sovereign,  but  of  a low-born  parvenu  Avho, 
however  powerful  in  fact,  held  only  the  office  of 
regent  in  his  own  country.  They  were  convinced 
and  reported  to  their  Government  on  their  return 
that  Hideyoshi  meant  war,  that  the  only  means  by 
which  it  could  be  averted  were  by  Korea  allying 
herself  with  him  against  her  suzerain,  and  placing 
at  his  disposal  their  country  as  a highway  for  his 
troops  and  their  own  military  and  naval  resources 
in  co-operation  with  his  in  whatever  operations  he 
might  undertake.  This  was  a course  that  the  Korean 
code  of  morality  would  have  considered  sacrilege. 
Hideyoshi’s  proposals  were  rejected  without  hesita- 
tion, and  the  rejection  was  not  softened  by  the  closing 
words  of  the  reply  sent  to  his  letter,  in  which  his 
project  of  invading  China  was  compared  to 
“ measuring  the  ocean  in  a cockle-shell  or  a bee 
trying  to  sting  a tortoise  through  its  shell.” 

Hideyoshi  has  been  very  justly  called  the  Napoleon 
of  Japan.  He  possessed  both  military  and  adminis- 
trative genius  of  the  highest  order,  and  his  own 
merits  and  strength  of  character  carried  him,  while 
still  comparatively  a young  man,  from  a station  in 

10 


146 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


life  far  below  that  of  Napoleon  to  the  very  highest 
office  in  the  State  to  which  a subject  can  attain,  an 
office  which  made  him  de  facto  the  absolute  ruler  of 
the  Empire.  His  vanity  and  ambition  were  equally 
boundless.  He  had  now  brought  all  his  own  country 
to  his  feet.  No  one  now  dared  to  question  his  will. 
All  the  proud  nobles  of  the  Imperial  Court  who 
traced  their  descent  to  the  gods  of  heaven,  all  the 
great  feudal  princes,  many  of  them  men  of  great 
ability,  all  except  those  who  owed  their  rank  and 
domains  to  himself,  men  of  long  descent,  hitherto 
accustomed  to  exercise  in  their  fiefs  an  unquestioned 
semi-sovereignty,  now  bent  their  knees  before  him 
and  rendered  reverential  obedience  to  his  dictates. 
He  was  a keen  judge  of  men,  and  possessed  the 
faculty  of  discovering  the  best  of  them  and  binding 
them  to  his  own  service  by  the  chains  of  gratitude 
and  pride,  in  some  instances,  perhaps,  of  fear.  He 
had  amassed  immense  wealth,  which  he  used  to  build 
palaces  worthy  of  an  emperor  for  his  o\vn  residence, 
castles  for  his  security,  and  temples  in  which  the 
gods  should  be  honoured  in  his  name.  Mindful  of 
his  own  origin  and  the  privations  of  his  childhood 
and  youth,  he  was  ever  solicitous  for  the  welfare 
of  the  common  people,  who  now  under  his  rule  en- 
joyed, for  the  first  time  for  generations,  full  security 
of  life,  liberty,  and  property,  and  who  ascribed  all 
they  had  to  him.  He  seemed  to  have  all  that  Heaven 
could  give  to  man,  and  he  had  won  it  all  before  he 
had  passed  his  fiftieth  year.  But  his  ambition  was 
not  yet  satisfied.  His  vanity  still  required  new 
material  for  its  gratification. 

The  traditions  of  the  Empress  Jingo’s  invasion 
of  Korea  were  implicitly  accepted  by  the  Japanese  as 
historical  facts.  The  glory  of  that  exploit  had  been 
given  to  the  son  whom  she  carried  in  her  womb 
during  the  invasion.  The  period  of  the  invasion  was 


HIDEYOSHl’S  INVASION 


147 


always  mentioned  by  Japanese  historians,  not  as  that 
of  the  Empress  Jingo  but  as  that  of  “ the  Emperor 
in  the  womb,”  and  he  is  still  worshipped  throughout 
the  length  and  breadth  of  Japan  as  Hachiman,  the 
god  of  war.  In  every  town  and  village  there  are 
temples  in  his  honour,  and  no  soldier  ever  departs 
for  the  field  without  previously  imploring  the  divine 
protection  of  the  god.  Hideyoshi  aspired  to  be 
deified  after  his  death  and  worshipped  by  generations 
to  come  as  the  Shin-Hachiman,  the  new  god  of 
war,  whose  worship  should  supplement  if  not  sup- 
plant that  of  the  old  god.  His  title  to  that  honour 
would  be  best — indeed,  it  could  only  be — established 
by  a foreign  conquest,  by  causing  the  glory  of  Japan 
to  shine  beyond  the  seas,  and  the  only  countries 
where  that  end  could  be  attained  were  Korea  and 
China.  Years  before  he  had  reached  his  pinnacle 
of  fame  and  power  he  had  proposed  the  conquest  of 
Korea  as  a stepping-stone  to  the  conquest  of  China 
to  Nobunaga,  his  patron  and  the  founder  of  his 
fortune,  promising  that  he  would  bring  the  three 
countries,  Japan,  China,  and  Korea,  under  one  crown, 
‘‘  as  easily  as  a man  rolls  up  a piece  of  matting 
and  carries  it  under  his  arm.”  His  patron  was  now 
dead,  and  Hideyoshi  could  carry  out  his  plans  to  his 
own  sole  glory. 

Important  considerations  of  statecraft  contributed 
to  personal  ambition  in  urging  him  on  his  way. 
While  not  forgetting  himself,  he  had  been  most 
generous  in  rewarding  those  who  had  fought  for  him 
with  the  confiscated  spoils  of  his  beaten  enemies. 
He  could  not,  however,  reward  all  the  immense 
number  of  those  who  had  claims  on  him  according 
to  their  estimates  of  their  own  merits,  nor  endow 
all  with  the  fiefs  that  made  them  territorial  princes 
or  nobles,  and  all  the  available  land  in  Japan  had 
been  bestowed.  Domestic  peace  seemed  to  be 


148 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


ensured  for  the  future,  and  the  soldier’s  occupation 
was  gone.  Idleness  would  soon  breed  discontent 
among  those  who  had  reason  to  draw  unfavourable 
comparison  between  their  own  and  their  more  for- 
tunate fellows’  lots  in  life  ; and  it  might  even  happen 
that  their  arms  would,  in  the  end,  be  raised  against 
their  old  leader — if  not  against  himself  against  his 
son  when  he  was  gone.  A foreign  conquest  would 
destroy  this  peril.  There  would  be  ample  occupation 
for  the  soldiers  till  it  was  achieved,  ample  lands  to 
reward  them  afterwards,  even  to  their  wildest  ex- 
pectations, and  all  temptation  to  restlessness  on  their 
part  would  be  removed.  Finally,  there  was  the 
question  of  the  native  Christians. 

It  was  the  time  of  Christianity’s  greatest  successes 
in  Japan.  Introduced  by  St.  Francis  Xavier  fifty 
years  previously,  and  sedulously  propagated  by  a 
band  of  the  ablest  and  most  devoted  missionaries 
that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  it  had  had  a continuous 
career  of  triumph  ; and  the  converts  of  all  classes 
in  life,  from  great  princes  of  the  land  down  to  the 
humblest  peasants,  were  by  this  time  said  to  number 
over  600,000.  Among  them  were  several  of  Hide- 
yoshi’s  ablest  and  most  trusted  officers  and  many 
thousands  of  his  best  soldiers.  Hideyoshi  had  as 
yet  made  no  attempt  to  check  the  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity— the  first  martyrdom  of  foreign  priests  and 
native  converts  took  place  in  1596 — but  he  was 
evidently  becoming  somewhat  uneasy  at  its  possi- 
bilities as  a political  factor,  especially  in  the  southern 
island  of  Kiusiu,  where  it  was  in  greatest  force. 
Kiusiu  would  be  the  base  of  an  invading  fleet  and 
army  for  Korea.  The  Kiusiu  troops,  recruited  mainly 
from  Christians,  would  be  in  the  van  of  the  invading 
army,  and  whether  they  perished  or  conquered  and 
settled  in  Korea,  Japan  would  equally  be  freed  from 
the  dangers  of  their  presence.  This  was,  according 


HTDEYOSHl’S  INVASION 


149 


to  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  the  chief  among  all  the 
incentives  that  urged  the  enterprise  on  Hideyoshi. 
If  another  incentive  was  wanted  to  complete  all  that 
have  been  mentioned,  it  was  furnished  by  the  rejec- 
tion of  his  overtures  by  Korea  and  the  contemptuous 
reference  to  his  ambitious  project  of  invading  China. 
The  Jesuits  were  hardly  more  complimentary  to  his 
wisdom  than  were  the  Koreans.  They  called  it 
“ a foolish  and  temerarious  enterprise,  infinitely 
hazardous,  if  not  morally  impracticable,  Japan  being 
hardly  one  handful  of  earth  in  respect  of  the  vast 
Empire  of  China.” 

Once  the  determination  was  taken,  Hideyoshi  lost 
no  time  in  beginning  preparations  with  his  usual 
energy  and  all-seeing  prudence.  A campaign  against 
Satsuma,  the  most  southern  and  one  of  the  most 
powerful  fiefs  in  Japan,  four  years  previously,  had 
taught  him  the  requisites  of  an  overseas  expedition, 
and  the  lessons  he  had  then  learned  were  now  turned 
to  good  account.  A base  was  established  at  Nagoya, 
the  modem  Karatsu,  now  a prosperous  town  with  a 
great  trade  in  coal,  with  a well -sheltered  harbour, 
on  the  western  coast  of  Kiusiu.  At  this  place  an 
army,  which,  counting  camp  followers,  numbered  over 
300,000  men,  was  soon  collected,  and  Hideyoshi  in 
person  supervised  all  its  equipment  on  the  spot.  It 
was  his  original  intention  to  have  taken  the  chief 
command  in  the  field  himself,  but  at  the  last  ill-health 
prevented  him  carrying  out  his  intention.  Much  of 
his  life  had  been  passed  in  the  field,  where  he  had 
shared  the  privations  of  his  soldiers.  But  when  not 
in  the  field  he  had  given  way  to  the  most  reckless 
indulgence  in  the  grossest  sensuality,  and  drink, 
gluttony,  and  debauchery  were  prominent  among  his 
vices.  Alternate  privation  and  indulgence  were  now 
beginning  to  tell  on  him,  though  he  was  still  far 
from  being  an  old  man,  and  his  physical  condition 


150 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


was  such  as  to  inhibit  further  active  service.  The 
command  was  therefore  shared  between  two  generals, 
Kato  Kiyomasa  and  Konishi  Yukinaga,  who  are  them- 
selves two  of  the  most  interesting  figures  in  Japanese 
history. 

Both  were  men  who,  like  Hideyoshi  himself,  had 
risen  from  the  ranks.  The  story  of  the  lives  of  both 
are  little  less  romantic  than  his  own.  Konishi  was 
the  son  of  a druggist  at  Sakai,  the  great  commer- 
cial port  of  Japan  in  the  days  of  Hideyoshi.  In 
his  boyhood  he  was  sent  by  his  father  as  an  acolyte 
to  the  celebrated  Buddhist  temple  of  Miidera,  and 
one  day  while  he  was  there  Hideyoshi,  when  out 
hunting,  called  at  the  temple  to  rest.  The  acolyte 
was  ordered  to  serve  tea  to  him,  and  the  address 
and  intelligence  which  he  showed  in  doing  so — he 
gradually  increased  the  heat  of  successive  cups  of 
tea  as  he  served  them — so  captivated  Hideyoshi  that 
he  asked  the  monks  to  give  the  boy  to  him.  Nothing 
that  the  great  tyrant  asked  for  could  be  refused, 
and  from  that  day  the  boy  was  in  his  personal  service. 
His  abilities  and  his  devotion  proved  the  unerring 
judgment  of  his  master.  His  rise  was  rapid,  and  at 
the  age  of  twenty-three  he  was  general  in  command 
of  the  first  division  of  the  army  in  Korea.  Kato  was 
very  much  older  ; he  was  already  high  in  rank  in 
Hideyoshi’s  military  service  when  Konishi  was  a boy 
at  the  temple  of  Miidera.  But  he  was  the  son  of 
a blacksmith  in  Hideyoshi’s  native  village  in  Owari. 
Perhaps  he  or  his  father  was  able  to  render  gome 
kindness  to  Hideyoshi  in  his  boyhood,  when,  before 
he  was  advanced  to  the  position  of  a groom,  he 
was  a hawker  of  firewood  ; but,  whatever  the  reason, 
Hideyoshi,  as  soon  as  he  began  to  rise  in  life,  took 
the  young  blacksmith  into  his  service,  and  as  he 
developed  into  a brave  and  capable  soldier  he  soon 
rose  to  high  military  rank.  It  is  curious  that  he 


HIDEYOSHFS  INVASION 


151 


achieved  what  was  his  great  master’s  strongest 
ambition,  but  which  he  failed  to  realise — he  was 
deified  after  his  death.* 

Konishi  was  converted  to  Christianity,  and  was 
not  only  one  of  the  most  fervent  disciples  of  the 
Jesuit  missionaries,  but  one  of  their  most  influential 
protectors  in  the  dark  days  of  persecution.  Kato, 
on  the  other  hand,  was  an  ardent  Buddhist,  and  hated 
Christians  and  their  doctrine  with  a bitter  hatred. 
These  two  commanded  the  first  divisions  of  the 
Japanese  army  that  were  landed  in  Korea.  That  of 
Konishi  was  composed  entirely  of  Christians  ; that 
of  Kato  was  blessed  by  Buddhist  priests  and  fopght 
under  Buddhist  banners.  Religion,  therefore,  added 
its  quota  to  the  rivalry  between  the  two  generals 
and  their  men. 

Simultaneously  with  the  organisation  of  the  troops 
a large  fleet  of  transports  had  been  prepared  at 
the  base.  Every  territorial  prince  whose  fief  bor- 
dered on  the  coast  was  ordered  to  furnish  ships 
proportionate  in  number  and  tonnage  to  his  revenue, 
and  to  man  them  every  fishing  village  was  called 
upon  to  provide  ten  men  for  every  hundred  houses 
it  contained.  All  was  ready,  “ down  to  the  last  gaiter 
button,”  before  the  end  of  May,  1592,  and  on  the 
24th  of  that  month  Konishi  sailed  with  the  first 
division.  The  Koreans  had  full  warning  of  the  fate 
that  threatened  them,  but  had  not  utilised  to  the 
best  the  interval  that  was  given  to  them  to  prepare 
for  their  defence.  Long-continued  peace  had  un- 
fitted them  for  war.  They  neglected  to  repair  or 
strengthen  their  castles,  their  troops  were  ill- 
organised  and  equipped  ; and  while  the  Japanese 

‘ Kato  in  his  lifetime  zealously  expounded  the  cause  of  the  Bud- 
dhists, especially  of  the  Nichiren  sect  against  Christians,  and  he  was 
rewarded  by  having  temples  erected  in  his  honour  after  his  death 
both  at  Kumanmoto,  his  own  fief,  and  elsewhere. 


152 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


were  now  accustomed  to  the  use  of  firearms,  the 
Koreans  had  still  only  the  bows  and  arrows  and  the 
spears  of  old  days.  The  first  firearm,  in  fact,  that 
they  had  seen  was  presented  to  them  by  Hideyoshi’s 
envoy,  Yoshitoki,  on  the  occasion  of  his  final  mission. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  Koreans,  as  will  be  seen  here- 
after, were  better  sailors  and  had  better  ships  than 
the  Japanese  ; but  with  inconceivable  negligence  they 
made  no  use  of  their  advantages  in  this  respect  at 
the  beginning  of  the  campaign,  and  both  Konishi  and 
Kato,  who  quickly  followed  him,  were  permitted  to 
land  in  the  south-east  of  Korea  without  opposition. 

The  castle  at  Fusan,  where  Konishi  landed,  formed 
an  exception  to  the  general  unpreparedness  of  the 
Korean  defences.  The  port  was  the  old  gateway 
to  Korea  from  Japan,  the  nearest  to  the  Japanese 
shores,  and  the  first  appearance  of  the  invaders  was 
looked  for  at  it.  The  castle  was  under  the  command 
of  a brave  and  energetic  officer  and  held  a garrison 
of  6,000  men,  who  were  quickly  reinforced  by  others 
from  the  surrounding  district  as  soon  as  the  approach 
of  the  enemy’s  fleet  was  discerned  through  the  haze 
that  hung  lightly  over  the  sea.  The  deep  trenches 
surrounding  the  castle  were  filled  with  water,  and 
all  the  approaches  from  the  river  bank  and  from 
the  beach  were  thickly  sown  with  caltrops  to  impale 
cavalry.  On  the  walls  more  than  2,000  engines  were 
planted  for  hurling  darts  and  cartouch  shots. 
Konishi’s  force  had  been  transported  in  800  vessels, 
so  that  it  may  be  assumed  to  have  amounted  to 
24,000  men,  and  this  estimate  does  not  much  differ 
from  the  precise  figures  given  by  Japanese  historians, 
on  the  exactness  of  which  but  little  reliance  can  be 
placed,  Japanese  having,  throughout  the  whole  of 
their  early  history,  been  much  given  to  numerical 
exaggeration  in  military  affairs.  When  the  whole 
army  had  been  landed  without  opposition  near  the 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


153 


castle,  Konishi,  undaunted  by  the  formidable  obstacle 
that  was  before  him,  summoned  the  Governor  to 
surrender.  The  Governor  answered  that  he  could  do 
nothing  without  orders  from  the  King  his  master, 
whereupon  Konishi  gave  orders  for  the  assault  on 
the  following  morning.  It  was  delivered  at  four 
o’clock  and  continued  throughout  the  day,  the 
Koreans  making  a brave  resistance  and  successfully 
repelling  the  first  attempt.  But  the  firearms  of  the 
Japanese,  altogether  new  to  the  Korean  soldiers,  pre- 
vailed over  their  primitive  weapons,  and  on  a second 
attempt  the  Japanese  succeeded  in  scaling  the  walls, 
from  which  the  defenders  had  been  swept  by 
musketry  fire  ; and,  once  there,  all  was  soon  over 
and  the  Japanese  were  masters  of  the  fortress.  Their 
Christianity  did  not  prevent  them  putting  the 
Governor  and  his  soldiers  to  the  sword.  After  two 
days’  rest  the  army  advanced  against  the  town  of 
Tongnai,  on  the  River  Naktong,  about  five  miles 
from  Fusan,  a still  stronger  fortress  than  the  latter, 
garrisoned  by  20,000  men,  among  whom,  it  is  said, 
were  the  best  troops  that  Korea  could  muster.  If 
that  were  so,  they  must  have  been  dispirited  by  the 
capture  of  Fusan  or  panic-struck  by  the  musketry 
fire,  for  they  made  but  a feeble  resistance.  The 
fight  lasted  only  three  hours.  Konishi  himself  was 
the  first  to  mount  the  scaling  ladders  that  were  placed 
against  the  walls,  and  was  so  well  seconded  by  his 
men  that  more  than  5,000  Koreans  were  killed,  while 
the  Japanese  loss  was  only  100  killed  and  400 
wounded.  With  this  trifling  loss  they  were  masters 
of  the  strongest  town  in  Southern  Korea,  one  also 
that  was  well  stocked  both  with  weapons  and  pro- 
visions. The  moral  effect  of  these  blows  following 
each  other  in  rapid  succession,  both  within  a few 
days  from  the  landing,  was  even  more  valuable  than 
the  capture  of  the  forts. 


154 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


There  were  still  five  fortresses  on  the  road  between 
Fusan  and  the  capital,  Seoul,  all  of  which  were 
capable  of  defence,  but  when  Konishi,  not  permitting 
his  troops  to  delay  either  for  rest  or  plunder,  marched 
straight  to  the  capital,  each  was  hastily  evacuated  on 
his  approach  and  taken  possession  of  by  the  Japanese 
without  resistance.  The  second  division  landed  at 
Fusan  four  days  later  than  Konishi’s,  and  Kato,  the 
general  in  command,  finding  nothing  left  to  be  done 
by  him  there,  also  started  in  the  race  for  Seoul,  not 
following  in  the  direct  track  of  Konishi  but  taking 
the  more  circuitous  eastern  road.  This  led  by  Kyun 
Ju,  the  ancient  capital  of  the  kingdom  of  Silla,  a 
city  attractive  to  the  Japanese  both  from  its  wealth 
and  from  its  historical  associations.  It  was  taken 
by  storm,  and  Kato  then  pushed  on  by  forced  marches 
and  joined  Konishi  near  the  town  of  Tyung  Chiu, 
which  lies  on  the  north  bank  of  a river,  a branch  of 
the  Han,  almost  exactly  half  way  on  the  central  road 
from  Fusan  to  Seoul. 

A few  miles  to  the  south  of  the  river  the  road 
crosses  a steep  and  narrow  mountain  pass,  which 
could  have  been  easily  held  by  a small  force  against 
an  advancing  army,  but  it  was  neglected  by  the 
Koreans,  who  concentrated  all  their  strength  at 
Tyung  Chiu.  It  was  a fortified  town,  and  ev'en  after 
the  pass  had  been  abandoned  a strong  resistance 
might  have  been  made  behind  its  walls  or  on  the 
river  bank  ; but  the  Korean  army,  which  the  King, 
recovering  from  the  sloth  that  had  hitherto  charac- 
terised him,  had  dispatched  when  he  saw  that  his 
capital  was  threatened,  consisted  mainly  of  cavalry 
— the  Jesuits  gave  its  numbers  as  from  sixty  to  seventy 
thousand  men,  “ almost  all  cavalry  ” — and  its  leader 
thought  it  would  prove  most  formidable  in  the  wide 
plain  that  lay  between  the  pass  and  the  river,  and 
there,  in  a position  with  a deep  river  in  his  rear  that 
presaged  absolute  ruin  for  his  whole  army  if  defeated. 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


155 


he  determined  to  meet  the  invader.  The  two  divisions 
of  Konishi  and  Kato  were  now  together,  and  their 
united  strength  amounted  to  forty  thousand  men. 
Konishi’s  division  was  in  the  van.  Kato  had  claimed 
this  honour,  but  Konishi,  having  hitherto  held  the  lead, 
refused  to  yield  it,  and  Kato,  indignant  though  he 
was,  was  obliged  to  submit.  The  relations  between 
the  two  commanders  had  always  been  strained,  and 
their  former  differences  were  now  still  further  em- 
bittered by  jealousy  on  Kato’s  part  and  by  the  con- 
sciousness on  Konishi’s  that  Kato  was  endeavouring 
to  minimise  the  victories  he  had  won.  On  this  point 
the  narrative  of  the  Jesuits  cannot  be  implicitly 
accepted.  Konishi  was  their  darling  hero,  their 
greatest  convert,  their  mainstay  in  securing  Hide- 
yoshi’s  continued  tolerance,  and  they  were  bound  to 
him  alike  by  strong  ties  of  gratitude  for  past  services 
and  by  hopes  for  the  future.  Kato  was  their  relent- 
less enemy  and  persecutor,  so  dreaded  and  hated  by 
them  that  they  spoke  of  him  as  “ vir  ter  execrandus 
There  is,  however,  an  undoubted  historical  foundation 
of  fact  for  their  description,  which  is  as  follows  : 

" Konishi  animated  his  men,  saying  they  must  either  conquer  or 
die  ; he  then  ranged  his  troops  in  battalia,  and  forbade  his  officers 
to  display  their  standards  till  the  signal  was  given.  Those  of  Korea 
on  their  side  drew  up  all  their  squadrons  in  a half-moon,  to  surround 
the  Japanese.  Kato,  seeing  them  closely  engaged,  instead  of 
joining  the  army,  drew  aside,  and  resolved  to  let  Konishi  perish,  or 
rescue  him  if  there  was  any  hazard  of  the  day,  and  so  gain  the  credit 
of  the  victory.  But  he  was  not  at  all  in  pain  about  it,  for  this  brave 
general  having  given  the  signal,  and  the  ensigns  being  now 
displayed,  the  van  marched  up  to  the  attack,  and  broke  through  the 
enemy’s  squadrons.  The  combat  was  long  and  bloody,  but  the 
Korean  horse,  galled  and  frightened  by  the  musquets,  being  rendered 
quite  unserviceable,  were  obliged  to  save  themselves  at  full  speed. 
About  eight  thousand  fell  dead  on  the  spot.  Besides  what  were 
drowned  in  passing  the  River.”  ' 


Crasset,  “ History  of  the  Church  in  Japan,”  vol.  i. 


156 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


The  news  of  this  disaster — it  was  even  worse  than 
the  Jesuits  described — was  quickly  brought  by  the 
fugitives  to  the  capital,  and  there  the  destruction  of 
the  last  obstacle  that  lay  between  it  and  the  advancing 
Japanese  created,  as  was  natural,  a universal  panic 
which  extended  from  the  Court  downwards.  It  was 
true  that  the  city  was  fortified  and  might  be  defended, 
but  its  walls  were  fourteen  miles  in  circumference 
and  there  was  no  force  left  within  them  capable  of 
manning  so  great  an  extent.  The  panic,  too,  had 
extended  to  the  few  soldiers  who  were  there,  and 
they  were  deserting  their  posts  and  sharing  in  the 
general  exodus  of  the  inhabitants.  The  King  in 
despair  determined  to  withdraw  to  the  north  himself, 
and  though  he  first  burnt  all  the  magazines,  his 
departure  was  so  hurried  that  it  became  a flight  : 

“ With  a retinue  the  scantinesss  of  which  told  a melancholy  tale 
of  desertion  in  the  hour  of  danger  and  misfortune,  the  King  made 
his  first  day’s  march,  followed,  as  he  passed  along,  by  the  lamenta- 
tions of  the  inhabitants,  who  complained  that  they  were  being 
abandoned  to  the  mercy  of  the  invaders.  His  household  was 
mounted  on  farm  horses,  no  food  had  been  provided  for  the  journey, 
and  a drenching  rain  fell  during  the  whole  day.  Wretched  with 
fatigue  and  hunger,  they  reached  their  lodgings  at  Kaishung  late  at 
night,  lighted  by  the  glare  of  a public  building  which  had  been  set 
on  fire  by  the  King’s  orders  to  deprive  the  Japanese  of  materials  for 
rafts  with  which  to  cross  the  river  which  flows  through  the  south  of 
that  cit}'.  Food  had  been  provided  here  for  the  King  and  his  suite, 
but  the  kitchen  was  invaded  by  hungry  guards  and  attendants,  and 
barely  enough  was  saved  for  the  King’s  supper.  His  less  fortunate 
household  had  no  food  until  the  following  day,  when  they  were 
allowed  to  share  with  some  soldiers  their  rations  of  boiled  rice.” 

Three  days  after  the  King’s  flight,  both  Konishi 
and  Kato,  who  had  marched  by  different  routes  from 
Tyung  Chiu,  the  former  still  following  the  central 
high-road  and  the  latter  taking  that  which  lay  to 
the  west,  reached  the  capital  and  entered  it  without 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


157 


opposition,  only  twenty  days  after  the  first  landing  at 
Fusan,  Konishi  by  the  Eastern  gate,  and  Kato,  a few 
hours  behind  him,  by  the  Southern  gate.  The  whole 
march  of  more  than  three  hundred  miles  from  Fusan, 
during  which  one  pitched  battle  and  many  skirmishes 
had  been  fought  and  three  great  fortresses  stormed, 

I was  a race  between  the  two  rival  commanders,  and 
was  accomplished  in  nineteen  days  by  Konishi  and 
in  fifteen  by  a longer  route  by  Kato.  A large  part 
of  the  town  had  been  burned  in  the  disorder  which 
occurred  between  the  King’s  departure  and  their  own 
arrival,  but  enough  of  the  buildings  remained  to 
enable  the  exhausted  soldiers  to  be  lodged  and  of 
provisions  for  them  to  be  fed.  The  occupation  of  the 
city  was  effected  with  the  utmost  order.  “ The  in- 
habitants suffered  nothing  either  from  the  pride  or 
greed  of  the  conquerors  ; for  the  general  and  all  the 
officers  of  this  army,  who  were  Christians,  and  had 
almost  nothing  in  common  with  heathen  soldiers,  had 
no  difficulty  in  preserving  discipline  among  their  men. 
A garrison  of  Koreans  could  not  have  entered  Seoul 
more  peaceably  than  did  the  victorious  Japanese.”  * 
This  extract,  of  course,  refers  to  Konishi’s  army, 
which  was  in  full  possession  of  the  city  before  Kato 
came  upon  the  scene.  The  Jesuits  may  be  pardoned 
I for  describing  the  incident  with  some  pride,  for  it  is 

' the  only  one  of  its  kind  which  occurred  throughout 

ithe  whole  war,  and  the  fate  of  the  garrisons  of 
Fusan  and  Tongnai  showed  what  even  the  Christian 
\ soldiers  could  do  when  provoked  by  resistance. 

For  fifteen  days  the  two  divisions  enjoyed  a well- 
; earned  rest  at  Seoul,  during  which  they  were  joined 
^ by  other  divisions  which  had  landed  later  at  Fusan 
and  marched  thence  by  the  most  western  of  the  three 
roads  that  led  to  the  capital,  the  last  portion  of 
which  had  been  used  by  Kato.  Hideyoshi’s  instruc- 
' Charlevoi.x,  “ Histoirc  du  Japon,”  vol.  i. 


158 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


tions  were  now  received  for  the  disposal  of  the  whole 
force.  The  north-eastern  province  of  Ham  Gyong, 
the  most  mountainous  and  therefore  presenting  the 
greatest  natural  difficulties  to  an  invading  army, 
where  the  inhabitants  were  both  the  boldest  and 
physically  the  strongest  of  all  the  Koreans,  was 
assigned  to  Kato.  Konishi  was  directed  to  continue 
his  march  northwards  on  the  high-road  from  Seoul 
to  the  frontier  of  China,  through  the  north-western 
provinces  of  Hoang  Hai  and  Phyong  An,  while  the 
other  division  commanders  were  to  hold  the  metro- 
politan and  southern  provinces  and  maintain  the  lines 
of  communication.  Both  the  northern  divisions  were 
largely  reinforced  from  the  others,  and  that  of 
Konishi  was  later  on  increased  by  the  inclusion  in 
his  command  of  two  other  full  divisions,  those  of 
Kuroda,  feudal  lord  of  Hizen,  and  of  Yoshitoki,  of 
Tsushima,  the  latter  of  whom,  it  will  be  remembered, 
was  Hideyoshi’s  ambassador  to  Korea  before  the 
war. 

Both  Konishi  and  Kato  started  on  their  northern 
march  from  Seoul  together.  Nearly  thirty  miles 
north  of  the  capital  the  road  is  crossed  by  the  River 
Injin,  a tributary  of  the  Han,  the  same  river  as  that 
crossed  at  night  in  the  glare  of  the  burning  building 
by  the  King  in  his  precipitous  flight  with  his  retinue 
of  concubines  and  eunuchs.  Here  the  Koreans  made 
another  effort  to  stem  the  progress  of  the  advancing 
victors.  Another  large  army  was  gathered  on  the 
northern  bank,  and  all  the  boats  on  the  river  of 
every  class  and  size  were  collected  there,  not  one 
being  left  on  the  southern  bank.  There  was  no 
ford,  the  current  was  rapid  and  the  river  wide,  and 
when  the  Japanese  arrived  at  the  southern  bank  all 
they  could  do  was  to  stare  helplessly  at  their  enemy’s 
great  camp  which  was  spread  before  them  on  the 
flats  across  the  river.  Here  they  might  have  been 


PALACK  (;ATK\VAY,  SEOUL. 

(Fri?»»i  SUwgraf'h  Cofyn)*ht,  VnJotcoo*l  & CiiUtruvoU,  London.) 


To  face  p.  158. 


HIDEYOSHl’S  INVASION 


159 


I indefinitely  held  in  check  and  harassed  by  guerilla 
attacks  on  their  flanks,  had  it  not  been  for  the  miser- 
I able  ineptitude  of  the  Korean  commanders.  The 
Japanese  feigned  a retreat,  and  a section  of  the 
Koreans  exultingly  crossed  the  river  in  their  boats 
to  pursue  them.  Then  the  Japanese  turned,  drove 
their  erstwhile  pursuers  in  headlong  rout  before  them, 
and  seized  their  boats  ; but  even  before  they  crossed 
! the  river  the  remainder  of  the  Korean  army  on  the 
, northern  bank,  readily  following  an  example  that  was 
set  them  by  their  generals,  broke  and  fled  northwards. 

The  two  Japanese  generals  now  separated.  Kato 
turned  to  the  right  on  his  long  march  into  Ham 
I Gyong,  the  province  which  extends  for  three  hundred 
I miles  along  the  Japan  Sea,  where  he  had  to  wage 
a continuous  guerilla  war,  and  where  his  soldiers  had 
to  suffer,  far  away  from  their  base,  the  privations  of 
a winter  of  a severity  that  was  entirely  new  to  them. 
Konishi  continued  on  his  direct  northward  march, 
where  physical  difficulties  were  comparatively  few 
but  where  the  prospect  of  glory,  in  the  capture  of 
important  cities,  the  pursuit  of  the  King,  and  the 
possible  invasion  of  China,  was  incomparably  greater. 
It  has  been  said  that  the  choice  of  their  respective 
I spheres  of  operations  was  decided  between  the  two 
I commanders  by  drawing  lots,  their  relations  having 
become  so  strained  that  it  was  impossible  for  them 
I to  continue  in  co-operation  ; but  the  more  plausible 
! explanation  is  that  they  acted  under  the  instructions  of 
Hideyoshi  which  have  been  already  quoted,  who,  in 
! his  exultation  at  Konishi’s  earliest  successes,  the  pride 
of  which  made  him  regard  Konishi  “ as  his  own  son 
restored  to  life,”  gave  to  him  the  sphere  that  was 
of  highest  promise. 

Leaving  for  the  present  Kato  and  his  division  to 
pursue  their  toilsome  and  adventurous  march  into 
the  wild  mountains  of  Ham  Gyong,  we  shall  follow 


160 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


the  more  important  and  dramatic  fortunes  of  Konishi. 
Marching  across  the  provinces  of  Hoang  Hai,  he 
reached  the  southern  bank  of  the  River  Tatong  six 
days  after  he  parted  from  Kato.  Here  he  found  him- 
self in  a somewhat  similar  position  to  that  which 
had  previously  confronted  the  united  divisions  at  the 
River  Injin.  The  Koreans  had  gathered  another 
army,  strong  in  numbers  if  in  nothing  else,  on  the 
northern  bank  under  the  walls  of  the  town  of 
Phyong  An,  in  which  the  fugitive  King  still  took 
refuge.  Phyong  An  lies  about  fifty  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  It  was  and  is  a large,  prosperous, 
and  populous  city,  a natural  fortress  in  its  situation, 
and  its  natural  advantages  were  supplemented  by 
all  that  the  engineering  skill  of  the  day  could  effect 
with  lofty  walls  and  battlements.  Sentiment  endeared 
it  to  the  Korean  heart,  as  it  was  the  capital  of  the 
old  kingdom  of  Korai  and  compared  with  it  Seoul 
was  but  a mushroom.  The  river  that  flowed  past 
it,  one  of  the  largest  in  Korea,  was  broad  and  swift. 
The  Japanese  had  no  boats,  and  though  there  were 
fords  the  Japanese  knew  nothing  of  their  where- 
abouts. It  could  not  be  hoped  that  the  Koreans 
would  again  permit  themselves  to  be  drawn  into  a 
similar  trap  to  that  which  had  proved  their  ruin 
at  the  River  Injin,  and  the  Japanese  were,  therefore, 
once  more  at  a deadlock. 

The  strength  of  Konishi’s  force,  increased  on  the 
one  hand  by  large  reinforcements  but  on  the  other 
diminished  by  the  guards  of  the  line  of  communica- 
tion with  Seoul,  was  now  over  thirty  thousand  men, 
and  so  little  promising  was  the  outlook  that  he  began 
to  prepare  winter  quarters  for  the  whole  of  this 
force.  He  first,  however,  attempted  negotiations, 
this  being  the  third  occasion  during  the  campaign 
on  which  the  Japanese  had  endeavoured  to  come  to 
terms  with  their  enemies.  The  circumstances  of  the 


HIDEYOSHl’S  INVASION  161 

present  attempt  contained  so  many  elements  of  the 
picturesque  that  it  has  often  been  a cause  of 
wonder  to  the  present  writer  that  they  have  not  been 
eagerly  seized  as  subjects  by  Japanese  artists.  Not 
even  a single  Japanese  had  the  means  of  crossing 
the  river.  So  one  was  sent,  unarmed  and  alone,  to 
the  river’s  edge,  where  he  planted  a branch  of  a 
tree  with  a paper  hanging  to  it,  and  waited.  He 
was  soon  observed  from  the  opposite  bank  and  a 
boat  was  sent  to  inquire  what  he  meant.  A letter 
from  Konishi  to  Ri  Toku  Kei,  the  Korean  official  with 
whom  the  negotiations  of  Hideyoshi’s  first  envoys 
had  been  principally  conducted,  was  given  to  the 
messenger  asking  for  an  interview  to  discuss  the 
conditions  of  peace,  and  the  interview  was  soon 
arranged.  It  took  place,  in  full  view  of  the  rival 
armies  on  both  sides,  in  mid-stream  in  two  small 
boats  moored  alongside  each  other — both  provided 
by  the  Koreans — and  the  parties  to  it  were  well 
chosen.  On  the  one  side  was  Ri  Toku  Kei,  on  the 
other  Yoshitoki,  the  chief,  and  the  monk  Genso, 
one  of  the  members  of  Hideyoshi’s  second  Embassy, 
both  of  whom  had  been  for  two  years  in  Seoul  before 
the  war.  All  three  envoys  were  therefore  well 
acquainted  with  each  other  and  were  personally  on 
terms  of  close  friendship.  The  Japanese  demands 
were  practically  a repetition,  in  less  discourteous 
terms,  of  those  of  Hideyoshi  when  at  Kioto  : “ Let 
the  Koreans  provide  a free  passage  for  the  Japanese 
armies  through  their  country  to  China  and  all  would 
be  well  with  them.”  Neither  the  pusillanimity  of 
their  unworthy  King,  who  now  abandoned  Phyong  An 
and  continued  his  northern  flight,  not  staying  this 
time  till  he  reached  the  frontier  town  of  Aichiu,  nor 
their  long  unbroken  series  of  defeats  had,  it  was 
evident,  destroyed  the  spirit  of  the  Koreans  nor 
damped  their  fealty  to  their  suzerain  China.  Not 

11 


162 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


only  was  an  indignant  refusal  given  to  the  demands, 
but  the  Japanese  were  told  that  as  long  as  their 
forces  were  on  Korean  soil  no  proposal  for  peace  on 
any  terms  would  be  entertained. 

The  wisdom  and  generalship  of  the  Koreans  -vv'ere 
in  inverse  ratio  to  their  spirit  and  fealty.  Again,  as 
at  the  In  jin,  they  lost  patience,  and  quitted  the  safety 
of  an  impregnable  stronghold  to  assume  the  offensive 
against  an  enemy  whose  incontestable  superiority  in 
hand-to-hand  fighting  on  equal  terms  had  been  so 
often  proved.  They  essayed  a night  assault  on  the 
Japanese  camp,  hoping  to  take  it  by  surprise.  The 
execution  of  this  attempt  was  as  bad  as  its  conception. 
Dawn  had  broken  before  the  Koreans  were  across 
the  river.  Even  then  their  first  attack  was  successful, 
but  the  Japanese  soon  rallied,  drove  their  assailants 
back  to  and  across  the  river,  and  in  the  flight  the 
fords  were  at  last  discovered  to  the  Japanese.  They 
were  quickly  utilised,  and  the  Koreans,  thoroughly 
disheartened  by  the  failure  of  their  sortie,  fled  out 
of  the  city  by  one  gate  almost  as  the  Japanese 
entered  it  by  another.  Immense  stores  of  grain  w’ere 
left  for  the  victors,  who  were  now  amply  provisioned 
and  could  wait  in  comfortable  quarters  till  plans 
were  completed  for  the  invasion  of  China,  to  which, 
in  their  flush  of  triumph,  they  eagerly  looked  forward. 
So  far  the  whole  campaign  had  been  an  un- 
broken triumphal  progress  for  the  Japanese.  They 
had  overrun  three-fourths  of  Korea  without  meet- 
ing with  a single  reverse,  and  Hideyoshi,  now 
believing  in  the  realisation  of  his  wildest  flights  of 
ambition,  poured  further  troops  into  the  peninsula 
and  again  thought  of  placing  himself  at  the  head 
of  his  armies  and  leading  the  advance  into  China. 
But  the  tide  of  good  fortune  was  now  destined  to 
turn,  and  the  Japanese  to  experience  a series  of 
disasters  which  nullified  all  their  former  triumphs 


PHYONC;  AN — THH  KIVKK  TATONC5 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


163 


and  forced  upon  them  a retreat  hardly  less  rapid! 
than  had  been  their  victorious  advance. 

No  country  in  the  world,  not  even  excepting 
Switzerland  or  Japan,  can  be  more  adapted  for 
guerilla  warfare  than  Korea.  It  is  all  “a  sea  of 
mountains,”  amidst  which  the  Japanese,  ignorant  of 
the  roads  and  paths — the  land  had  not  then  been 
mapped  out  for  them  in  advance  by  an  army  of 
highly  trained  spies  as  it  was  before  their  modern 
wars  with  China  and  Russia — frequently  strayed  and 
got  lost  and  were  at  the  mercy  of  ambushed  archers 
or  of  spearsmen  who  burst  on  them  in  overwhelming 
numbers  from  the  thick  cover  of  the  mountain  forests. 
They  had  to  depend  largely  on  foraging  for  their 
supplies — Kato’s  army  throughout  its  whole  march, 
Konishi’s  from  the  time  when  the  supplies  of  the 
Phyong  An  granaries  began  to  run  low — and  their 
foraging  parties  were  frequently  cut  off  and  never 
heard  of  again,  and  even  when  successful  they 
carried  out  their  work  in  such  constant  dread  of 
attack  that  their  nerve-tension  had  scarcely  any  rest. 

Through  all  the  campaign  the  Koreans  had  shown 
no  lack  of  courage.  No  matter  how  often  defeated, 
they  had  always  been  found  ready  even  to  take  the 
offensive  against  their  foes,  who,  they  knew,  were  far 
more  effectively  armed  and  drilled  than  themselves, 
and  all  the  misfortunes  they  had  suffered  were  due, 
I not  to  the  cowardice  or  weakness  of  the  men  but  to 

I the  incompetence  and  rashness  of  the  officers. 

Guerilla  bands  of  peasants,  maddened  by  the  plunder- 
■ ing  of  their  homesteads,  by  seeing  their  families  left 

; to  starve  by  alien  marauders  who  necessarily  thought 

j only  of  themselves,  under  the  leadership  and  guidance, 

j not  of  aristocratic  officers  but  of  their  own  fellows, 

I everywhere  hung  on  the  outskirts  of  the  Japanese 

armies  in  every  district  of  the  country,  and  by  the 
losses  which  they  inflicted  shattered  all  the  confidence 


164 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


in  their  invincibility  with  which  their  early  successes 
in  the  storming  of  castles  and  in  pitched  battles  had 
imbued  the  Japanese.  Few  Oriental  nations  suffer 
from  what  is  called  “ nerves,”  the  Japanese  perhaps 
the  least  of  all.  A Japanese  will  bear  without  a 
tremor  the  pain  of  an  agonising  surgical  operation 
without  an  anaesthetic,  the  very  thought  of  which 
would  make  the  bravest  Englishman  quail,  and  he 
will  face  and  go  through  an  ordeal,  where  death 
momentarily  threatens  him,  with  the  unruffled  forti- 
tude of  the  Stoic.  But  even  the  iron  nerves  of  the 
Samurai  in  Korea,  whose  whole  lives  had  been  passed 
in  war,  began  to  give  way  under  the  constant  strain 
to  which  they  were  subjected  by  the  Korean  guerillas, 
and  instances  began  to  occur  in  which  even  superior 
numbers  did  not  enable  them  to  hold  their  ground. 
Nor  were  the  Korean  successes  confined  entirely  to 
the  guerilla  attacks.  An  assault  made  by  ten 
thousand  Japanese  on  the  town  of  Chinju  in  the 
south  of  the  province  of  Kyong-Syang  was  beaten 
back  with  a loss  of  more  than  half  their  number, 
though  the  defending  garrison  numbered  less  than 
three  thousand  ; and  on  the  other  hand,  the  town  of 
Kyun  Ju,  the  old  Sillan  capital,  taken  by  Kato  at 
the  very  outset  of  his  campaign,  was  retaken  by 
storm  by  the  Koreans. 

It  was  at  the  siege  of  this  town  by  the  Koreans 
that  the  bomb  made  its  first  recorded  appearance  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  Hitherto  the  Koreans  had 
no  firearms,  and  had  suffered  heavily,  both  in  actual 
loss  and  morale,  from  the  fire  of  the  practised 
Japanese  musketeers.  Now  the  tables  were  turned. 
The  Koreans  had  learnt  the  use  of  powder,  and  one 
of  them,  called  Ri  Chosen  : 

“invented  a cannon  called  Shin-ten-rai,  or  “heaven-shaking 
thunder,”  which  by  his  art  he  secretly  brought  to  the  foot  of  the 
castle.  It  was  put  in  operation  and  shot  into  the  castle,  where  it  fell 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


165 


into  the  courtyard.  The  Japanese  troops  were  ignorant  of  its 
construction,  and  rushed  forward  to  see  what  curious  missile  had 
been  shot  at  them  by  the  enemy,  when  all  of  a sudden  the  gun- 
powder poison  burst  forth,  with  a noise  which  made  heaven  and 
earth  to  tremble,  and  it  broke  up  into  splinters  of  iron,  which  caused 
instant  death  to  any  one  whom  they  struck.  More  than  thirty  men 
were  killed  in  this  way,  and  even  those  who  were  not  killed  were 
flung  to  the  ground.” 

It  will  be  seen  that,  according  to  the  Japanese 
account  of  it,  the  whole  so-called  cannon  with  its 
contents  was  shot  into  the  castle.  The  cannon 
according  to  Korean  record,  as  quoted  by  Mr. 
Hulbert,  was  made  of  bell  metal,  about  eight  feet  in 
length,  with  a bore  of  twelve  or  fourteen  inches, 
and  the  Korean  records  agree  with  those  of  Japan 
in  stating  that  this  machine  could  project  itself  bodily 
through  the  air  for  a distance  of  forty  paces.  Mr. 
Hulbert  suggests,  that  the  dimensions  and  name  apply 
to  the  gun,  and  that  it  was  a kind  of  mortar  from 
which  an  explosive  missile  was  discharged.  It  is 
not  impossible,  however,  that  the  Koreans  had  cata- 
pults capable  of  hurling  a large  iron  projectile  for 
a distance  of  forty  yards,  even  one  eight  feet  long, 
and  it  would  be  more  in  consonance  with  both  the 
Korean  and  Japanese  accounts  to  assume  that  the 
invention  was  limited  to  the  explosive  missile  and 
did  not  include  the  machine  by  which  it  was  dis- 
charged. Whatever  be  the  correct  explanation  as 
to  the  means  by  which  it  was  discharged,  its  success 
was  complete.  It  so  filled  the  Japanese  garrison  with 
terror  that  they  hastily  evacuated  the  city  and  left 
it  to  the  Koreans. 

All  these  circumstances  tended  to  raise  the  droop- 
ing spirits  of  the  Koreans  ; and  they  had  also  further 
subjects  of  congratulation,  enough  to  make  them 
think  that  the  darkest  hours  of  the  national  humilia- 
tion had  passed  and  that  they  could  hope  to  free 


166 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


themselves  from  their  ruthless  invaders.  China  at 
last  awakened  to  her  responsibilities,  to  the  duty 
which  she  owed  to  Korea  and  to  Hideyoshi’s  schemes 
against  herself,  and  was  now  coming  to  the  help 
of  her  sorely  tried  vassal,  the  vassal  whose  misfor- 
tunes were  mainly  due  to  unswerving  loyalty  to  the 
suzerain,  and  Korea  gained  command  of  the  sea. 


CHAPTER  IX 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION  ; THE  SECOND  STAGE 

We  have  before  stated  that  the  Koreans  were  better 
sailors  than  the  Japanese  and  possessed  larger  ships. 
They  had,  however,  made  no  preparations  for  the 
war  and  had  not  ventured  to  face  the  great  fleet 
with  which  Hideyoshi’s  transports  were  convoyed, 
either  while  it  was  on  the  high  seas  or  during  the 
early  stages  of  the  war  when  it  lay  at  anchor  in 
Korean  harbours.  However  much  Korea  had  to 
bewail  the  incapacity  of  her  generals,  their  rashness 
or  only  too  often  their  cowardice,  she  was  fortunate 
enough  to  have  in  command  of  her  fleet  one  whose 
name  deserves  enrolment  among  the  greatest  naval 
heroes  of  the  world,  who  to  the  most  undaunted 
courage,  to  the  personal  magnetism  which  made  him 
a leader  of  men,  to  fortitude  in  adversity,  and  to  a 
noble  generosity  which  enabled  him  to  sink  the  sensi- 
bility of  injustice  and  unrequited  merit  in  devoted 
patriotism,  added  tactical  and  inventive  genius  of 
a high  order  ; who  combined,  it  may  be  said  without 
very  great  exaggeration,  the  military  seamanship  of 
Nelson  with  the  constructive  skill,  as  far  as  it  could 
be  displayed  in  those  days  of  engineering  primitive- 
ness, of  the  most  scientific  shipbuilders. 

While  Japan’s  armies  were  triumphantly  over- 
running the  whole  peninsula,  her  fighting  fleet  lay 
idly  in  the  shelter  of  the  island  of  Konchi,  a 
little  to  the  west  of  Fusan.  The  communications 

167 


168 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


with  Kiusiu  were  uninterrupted,  and  when  all  was 
well  with  the  Army  there  seemed  to  be  no  scope 
for  the  Navy.  At  last  when  Konishi  was  safely 
established  in  Phyong  An,  and  was  awaiting  the 
arrival  of  the  strong  reinforcements  which  Hideyoshi 
had  promised  from  his  reserves  at  Nagoya,  to 
continue  his  advance  towards  the  frontier  of  China, 
he  summoned  the  fleet  to  the  estuary  of  the  River 
Tatong  to  clear  the  west  coast  for  the  reinforce- 
ments which  were  to  be  sent  by  sea  and  so  saved  from 
the  long  overland  march  from  Fusan,  to  protect  their 
landing  and  to  guard  the  river  so  that  all  the  land 
forces  might  be  free  for  the  advance,  for  which 
every  available  man  would  be  required.  The  Korean 
Admiral,  Yi  Sun,  had  not  been  idle.  He  had  com- 
pletely reconstructed  his  whole  fleet.  He  had  all  his 
ships  double  decked,  their  bulwarks  strengthened, 
both  on  the  lower  and  upper  decks,  so  as  to  afford 
effective  shelter  for  his  archers,  and  studded  on  their 
outward  sides  with  iron  spikes  as  a protection  against 
boarders.  But  his  constructive  skill  went  much 
farther,  and  for  its  result  we  cannot  do  better  than 
quote  in  full  Mr.  Hulbert’s  description  of  what  he 
very  justly  claims,  assuming  the  description  to  be 
correct,  to  have  been  the  first  ironclad  in  history  : 

“ The  main  reason  for  his  unparalleled  successes  was  the  posses- 
sion of  a peculiar  war-vessel  of  his  own  invention  and  construction. 
It  was  called  the  Kwi-sun,  or  ‘ tortoise-boat,’  from  its  resemblance 
to  that  animal.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  tortoise  furnished  the 
model  for  the  boat.  Its  greatest  peculiarity  was  a curved  deck  of 
iron  plates,  like  the  back  of  a tortoise,  which  completely  sheltered 
the  fighters  and  rowers  beneath.  In  front  was  a hideous  crested 
head  erect,  with  a wide-open  mouth,  through  which  arrows  and 
other  missiles  could  be  discharged.  There  was  another  opening  in 
the  rear,  and  six  on  either  side  for  the  same  purpose.  On  the  top 
of  the  curved  deck  there  was  a narrow’  walk  from  stem  to  stern, 
and  another  across  the  middle  from  side  to  side  ; but  ever}’  other 
part  of  the  back  bristled  with  iron  spikes,  so  that  an  enemy  who 


HIDEYOSHl’S  INVASION 


169 


should  endeavour  to  board  her  would  find  himself  immediately 
impaled  upon  a score  of  spear-heads.  This  deck,  being  of  iron, 
rendered  the  ship  impervious  to  fire-arrows,  and  so  the  occupants 
could  go  into  action  with  as  much  security  as  one  of  our  modern 
battle-ships  could  go  into  engagements  with  the  wooden  war-vessels 
of  a century  ago.  In  addition  to  this,  she  was  built  for  speed,  and 
could  easily  overtake  anything  afloat.  This  made  her  doubly 
formidable,  for  even  flight  could  not  avail  the  enemy.  She  usually 
did  more  execution  after  the  flight  commenced  than  before,  for  she 
could  overtake  and  ram  them  one  by  one  probably  better  than  she 
could  handle  them  when  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle." ' 

No  mention  is  made  by  Japanese  historians  of 
the  iron  deck  or  sheathing  although  they  describe 
the  iron -spiked  roofs.  But  even  though  Yi  Sun  may 
not  claim  to  have  been  the  inventor  and  builder  of 
the  first  ironclad,  he  undoubtedly  made  his  ships  by 
far  more  powerful  instruments  of  marine  warfare 
than  any  that  the  Japanese  could  bring  against  them, 
and  in  one  other  respect  he  anticipated  naval  archi- 
tects of  the  nineteenth  century. 

British  residents  at  Chinese  and  Japanese  ports 
in  the  sixties  and  seventies  of  the  last  century  were 
familiar  with  the  corvettes  under  the  United  States 
flag  that  were  popularly  known  as  “ double-enders.” 
They  were  paddle-wheel  steamers,  with  stem  and 
stern  precisely  similar,  so  that  they  would  advance 
or  retreat  without  turning,  and  were  originally 
designed  and  built  for  service  on  the  Mississippi 
in  the  Secessionist  War.  When  the  war  was  over, 
they  were  sent  to  patrol  the  Chinese  rivers,  a service 
for  which  they  were  admirably  adapted,  and  all  their 
last  years  were  passed  in  Eastern  waters.  Yi  Sun 
made  his  most  powerful  galleys  double-enders,  with 
what  result  we  shall  soon  see. 

The  Japanese  were  busy  at  their  anchorage  pre- 
paring for  their  voyage  to  the  north,  when  the  Korean 

* Hulbcrt,  “ History  of  Korea,”  vol.  i.  p.  376. 


170 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


fleet  appeared  off  the  entrance  of  the  inlet.  They 
were  no  sooner  seen  by  the  Japanese  than  it  became 
evident  Korean  sailors  were  as  ready  to  fly  as  Korean 
soldiers,  for  the  whole  fleet  turned  at  once  and  put 
out  to  sea.  The  Japanese  sailors,  burning  to  emulate 
the  deeds  of  the  soldiers,  at  once  slipped  their  cables 
and  started  in  hot  pursuit.  The  Koreans  had  come 
with  a favouring  wind,  so  their  oarsmen  were  fresh 
and  the  chase  might  have  been  a long  one.  Suddenly 
a signal  was  given  ; there  was  no  going-about  of 
the  Korean  fleet  : the  oarsmen  simply  reversed  their 
oars,  and  down  on  the  pursuing  Japanese  came  the 
Koreans  with  all  the  speed  that  a strong  wind  at  their 
backs  and  untired  oarsmen  could  give  them.  The 
astounded  Japanese  found  themselves  trapped  ; their 
ships,  as  they  struggled  against  the  head  sea  or 
endeavoured  to  wear,  were  rammed  and  sunk  or  set 
on  fire  by  fire-arrows,  and  they  were  helpless  in 
return.  They  could  not  board  their  enemy  on  account 
of  the  spikes  ; their  arrows  and  bullets  were  as 
impotent  against  the  strong  bulwarks  and  roofed 
decks  of  the  Koreans  as  the  fire  of  the  Federal 
wooden  liners  was  against  the  protected  Merrimac, 
and  neither  side  had  cannon.  The  contest  was  a 
hopeless  one.  Soon  the  survivors  were  in  full  flight, 
the  Koreans  pursuing  and  sinking  throughout,  and  it 
was  a very  small  remnant  of  the  fleet  that  at  last 
found  safety,  not  in  its  former  anchorage  but  in  the 
shelter  of  the  River  Naktong,  almost  under  the  very 
walls  of  Fusan. 

This  great  victory  was  followed  by  others.  The 
coast  was  patrolled  by  swift  Korean  galleys,  and  no 
Japanese  ship  could  approach  it  undetected  ; so  that 
all  supplies  and  reinforcements  from  Japan  were  cut 
off,  and  the  army  of  more  than  two  hundred  thousand 
men  that  was  scattered  throughout  Korea,  from  the 
extreme  frontier  on  the  north-east  to  which  Kato  had 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


171 


extended  his  march,  and  Phyong  An  in  the  north- 
west, where  Konishi  was  eagerly  awaiting  the  supplies 
and  reinforcements  that  were  never  to  come,  down 
to  the  southern  provinces  of  Cholla  and  Kyong  Syang, 
had  now  to  depend  entirely  on  itself. 

History  does  not  afford  any  more  striking  instance 
of  the  influence  of  sea  power,  of  the  salvation  which 
it  affords  to  a maritime  nation,  threatened  or  suffering 
from  an  over-seas  invasion,  and  it  is  a pity  that 
it  was  not  known  to  Mahan,  so  that  he  might  have 
used  it  in  confirmation  of  the  theories  that  are 
advocated  in  his  great  work.  It  at  once  changed 
the  whole  aspect  of  the  war.  It  placed  the  invaders 
entirely  on  the  defensive,  forced  them  to  convert 
their  triumphant  advance  into  a perilous  retreat,  and 
infused  new  hope  and  courage  into  the  Koreans,  so 
that  they  prosecuted  their  guerilla  warfare  with  re- 
doubled energy  and  with  a success  that  was  as  well- 
nigh  unbroken  as  had  been  their  defeats  previously 
in  pitched  battles.  The  Japanese  could  not  exist 
without  foraging.  Everywhere  their  foraging  parties 
were  ambushed  and  cut  off  and  the  camps  were 
kept  in  a perpetual  tension.  The  guerillas  rendered 
a no  less  important  service  in  detecting  a number 
of  their  own  countrymen  who  were  paid  spies  in  the 
service  of  the  Japanese.  Their  punishment  of  the 
spies  was  drastic  enough  to  deter  very  effectually 
other  Koreans  from  playing  the  traitor,  so  that  the 
Japanese  had  to  rely  on  their  own  scouts  for  infor- 
mation and  very  often  the  scouting  party  never 
returned.  The  time  was  also  at  hand  at  which  the 
Koreans  were  no  longer  to  have  to  rely  on  their  own 
unaided  strength  and  resources. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  the  Chinese  were 
strongly  suspicious  of  the  good  faith  of  the  Koreans, 
and  notwithstanding  successive  appeals  for  help 
that  were  made  to  them  by  the  fugitive  King,  his 


172 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


defeats  and  the  rapid  advance  of  the  Japanese  at 
first  seemed  only  to  confirm  their  suspicions.  They 
thought  that  such  rapidity  could  only  have  been 
attained  with  Korean  connivance.  The  fall  of 
Phyong  An  and  the  continued  flight  of  the  King  at 
last  showed  them  that  their  suspicions  were  ill- 
founded  ; then  tardily  awaking  to  their  duty,  they 
sent  a force  of  five  thousand  men  from  Liao  Tung 
to  recapture  Phyong  An,  which  it  js  to  be  remembered 
was  held  by  Konishi  with  thirty  thousand  veterans. 
The  fatuousness  of  the  Chinese  commander  equalled 
the  very  worst  displays  of  the  Koreans  at  the  Injin 
and  Tatong  Rivers.  Arrived  opposite  the  town,  he 
found  the  gates  wide  open  and  no  sign  of  resistance. 
So  with  his  men  he  marched  straight  in,  only  to 
find  himself  attacked  from  both  sides  of  all  the 
narrow  streets  and  lanes  by  Japanese  archers  and 
musketeers  safely  hidden  in  the  houses.  He  and 
the  majority  of  his  men  were  shot  dowm,  and  such 
panic  seized  the  survivors  that  they  did  not  draw 
bridle  again  till  they  were  safely  over  their  oum 
frontier.  This  happened  on  October  3,  1592.  It 
showed  China  the  seriousness  of  the  task  which  she 
had  undertaken,  and  she  now  set  herself  in  earnest  to 
organise  an  army  sufficient  for  it.  While  engaged 
in  her  preparations  some  illusory  negotiations  for 
peace  were  entered  into  between  Konishi  and  a 
Chinese  envoy  named  Chin  Ikei,  and  an  armistice 
was  agreed  on  for  fifty  days.  Its  whole  object  was, 
however,  only  to  give  time  to  the  Chinese,  and  before 
it  was  over  a well-equipped  and  disciplined  army 
which  the  Japanese  historians  alleged  to  have 
numbered  two  hundred  thousand  men,  but  which, 
according  to  the  more  reliable  Koreans,  did  not 
exceed  forty  thousand  men,  was  on  its  way  to  Korea, 
and  when  there  it  was  joined  by  large  numbers  of 
Koreans.  The  Japanese  number  probably  applied 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


173 


to  the  united  Korean  and  Chinese  armies,  though 
even  then  it  was  largely  exaggerated. 

The  difficulties  of  the  Japanese  scouts  when  they 
had  lost  the  services  of  Korean  spys  have  been 
already  mentioned.  The  Chinese,  crossing  the  Yalu 
on  the  ice  and  marching  with  ease  and  rapidity  over 
the  frozen  roads  to  which  they  were  well  accustomed, 
were  before  Phyong  An  early  in  February,  1593,  and 
the  first  intimation  Konishi  had  of  their  approach  was 
afforded  by  their  appearance.  He  made  such  hasty 
preparations  as  he  could  for  defence,  but  was  driven 
into  the  citadel  with  heavy  loss.  Adopting  tactics 
which  the  Japanese  themselves  followed,  both  at 
Phyong  An  and  Port  Arthur,  in  their  war  with  China 
in  our  own  day,  the  Chinese  commander  did  not 
completely  invest  the  citadel,  and  purposely  left  the 
southern  gate  unguarded.  Through  it  the  Japanese 
retreated  at  night,  and  crossing  the  River  Tatong  on 
the  ice,  started  on  their  retreat  to  Seoul  under  con- 
ditions no  less  severe  than  those  which  accompanied 
Napoleon  on  his  retreat  from  Moscow.  Konishi’s 
troops  were  nearly  all  from  Kiusiu,  and,  unlike  their 
Chinese  foes,  were  totally  unaccustomed  to  the  arctic 
severity  of  the  winter  in  Northern  Korea.  The 
country  all  round  had  been  made  a waste  by  them- 
selves. Konishi  had  established  a line  of  bases  at 
intervals  along  the  road  from  Seoul  to  Phyong  An, 
in  each  of  which  he  expected  to  find  provisions  ; but 
their  commander,  Otomo,  Prince  of  Bungo,  also  a 
Christian,  had  deserted  them  when  he  heard  of  the 
fall  of  Phyong  An,  and  without  awaiting  his  chief 
or  his  army,  had  himself  hurriedly  retreated  to  the 
safety  of  Seoul.  Hungry,  benumbed  with  cold,  foot- 
sore, and  dispirited,  the  Japanese  continued  their 
retreat  till  they  reached  Seoul. 

On  their  way  they  were  joined  when  near  the 
capital  by  Kato,  whom  the  fall  of  Phyong  An  had 


174 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


compelled  to  evacuate  the  province  of  Ham  Gyong 
with  no  less  precipitousness  than  Konishi  had  with- 
drawn from  Phyong  An.  But  while  neither  Chinese 
nor  Koreans  had  ventured  to  molest  the  latter  on  his 
retreat,  Kato  had  to  fight  his  way  through  hordes 
of  guerillas  who  were  swarming  all  round  him  and 
to  whom  the  new  successes,  both  in  the  north  and 
south,  both  on  land  and  sea,  had  given  new  enter- 
prise and  courage.  His  principal  achievements,  apart 
from  the  desolation  he  spread  all  round,  was  the 
capture  as  prisoners  of  war  of  two  Korean  princes, 
who  were  sent  to  organise  the  defences  of  the  north- 
eastern province  when  the  King  fled  from  Seoul. 

The  rival  Japanese  generals  had  parted  when  the 
arms  of  both  were  triumphant,  and  it  seemed  certain 
that  they  would  be  carried  in  further  triumph  into 
China.  They  met  again,  when  it  seemed  more  certain 
that  they  would  have  to  fight  for  their  very  lives, 
and  both  commanded  beaten  and  hunted  armies.  It 
was  proposed  that  the  retreat  should  be  at  once 
continued  to  Fusan,  but  bolder  counsels  prevailed, 
and  it  was  determined  to  try  the  fortunes  of  wai^ 
once  more  before  Seoul  was  abandoned.  The  Chinese, 
who  had  slowly  followed  the  retreating  armies  from 
Phyong  An,  arrived  at  Pachiung,  a day’s  march  from 
the  capital.  A sharp  skirmish  took  place  in  which 
they  had  the  advantage,  and,  emboldened  by  this 
success,  they  advanced  against  the  capital,  outside 
of  which  they  were  met  by  the  desperate  Japanese. 
The  battle  was  bitterly  fought,  but  the  short  swords 
of  the  Chinese  were  no  match  for  the  long  swords 
and  muskets  of  the  Japanese,  and  the  victory  was 
on  the  side  of  the  Japanese.  The  Chinese  were 
driven  from  the  field  with  terrible  loss,  and  the 
Japanese  were  able  to  remain  with  security  in  Seoul. 

Their  plight  was  desperate  all  the  same.  It  has 
been  told  before  that  when  they  first  entered  Seoul 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


175 


on  their  northern  advance,  the  inhabitants  suffered 
no  more  than  they  would  have  done  from  an  army 
of  their  own  countrymen.  Whether  it  was  that 
Christians  were  no  longer  predominant  among  the 
Japanese  or  a Christian  general  at  their  head  in  un- 
disputed command,  or  whether  it  was  that  the  spirit 
of  the  army  advancing  in  triumph  was  changed  into 
remorseless  cruelty  when  the  same  army  was  forced 
to  fight  in  desperation  for  its  very  existence,  need 
not  be  argued,  but  the  fact  remains  that  before  the 
battle  the  Japanese  slaughtered  the  inhabitants  of 
the  city  wholesale,  sparing  only  a number  whom 
they  forced  to  act  as  baggage  coolies,  and  burnt 
the  greater  portion  of  the  city.  Their  excuse  for 
this  savage  act  was  that  they  feared  a demonstra- 
tion from  the  townspeople  in  their  rear  while  they 
were  engaged  with  the  Chinese  soldiers  in  their  front. 
Its  consequences  reverted  on  themselves.  They  were 
houseless  and  foodless  in  a city  that  lay  in  the  midst 
of  a wasted  country.  Famine  was  all  around  them, 
and  disease  followed  it,  and  they  suffered  not  so 
much  as  but  along  with  the  wretched  inhabitants. 
Soon  their  position  was  so  desperate  that  they  made 
overtures  for  peace — overtures  that  were  willingly  re- 
ceived by  the  Chinese  general,  who  was  not  eager 
after  his  last  experience  to  try  again  the  ordeal  of 
battle.  An  armistice  was  finally  made,  the  principal 
terms  of  which  were  that  the  Japanese  should  evacu- 
ate t"he  capital  and  withdraw  to  Fusan,  and  that  an 
embassy  should  be  sent  by  China  to  Hideyoshi  to 
conclude  a lasting  peace.  The  evacuation  was  carried 
out  on  May  9,  i 583,  and  the  Chinese  entered  the  city 
on  the  following  day. 

The  Japanese  were  permitted  to  continue  their 
march  to  Fusan  without  molestation,  and  on  arrival 
there  to  entrench  themselves  in  fortified  camps.  Here, 
in  a milder  climate  by  the  sea,  with  sufficient  supplies. 


176 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


they  could  await  with  some  patience  the  result  of  the 
embassy’s  mission  to  Hideyoshi.  The  negotiations 
were  throughout  exclusively  between  the  Chinese  and 
Japanese,  neither  of  whom  seem  to  have  considered 
it  incumbent  on  them  to  consult  the  Koreans.  They, 
on  their  part,  were  fiercely  indignant  when  the  wanton 
invaders  from  whom  they  had  suffered  so  terribly 
were  allowed  to  retreat  unmolested,  and  notwith- 
standing all  their  losses  they  still  spumed  every 
thought  of  peace  so  long  as  a single  one  of  their 
enemies  remained  on  Korean  soil. 

The  embassy,  headed  by  the  same  Chin  Ikei,  who 
has  been  already  mentioned,  was  soon  on  its  way  to 
Nagoya.  On  its  arrival  it  was  received  by  Hide- 
yoshi in  the  most  friendly  manner,  and  during  its 
stay  (which  exceeded  a month)  was  entertained  with 
the  ostentatious  splendour  that  was  on  all  occasions 
so  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  great  parvenu.  But 
while  the  embassy  was  still  at  Nagoya,  while  Hide- 
yoshi was  overwhelming  the  Chinese  ambassador  with 
compliments  and  hospitality,  he  showed  that  however 
much  he  may  have  abandoned  his  hope  of  conquer- 
ing China,  he  had  lost  nothing  of  his  vindictiveness 
towards  Korea,  on  which  he  laid  all  the  blame  of 
the  miscarriage  of  his  great  plans.  It  is  true  that 
he  gave  orders  for  the  release  of  the  two  Korean 
princes  who  had  been  made  prisoners  by  Kato,  but 
this  was  done,  not  as  a compliment  to  Korea,  but 
as  a concession  to  China  of  a point  on  which  great 
stress  had  been  laid  throughout  all  the  negotiations 
that  had  taken  place  from  Seoul  onwards.  To  Korea 
he  forgave  nothing. 

The  unsuccessful  assault  by  the  Japanese  on  the 
town  of  Chinju  has  been  previously  mentioned.  It 
was  one  of  the  strongest  to\ms  in  Southern  Korea, 
and  such  was  the  King’s  confidence  in  its  impregna- 
bility that  the  royal  treasures  were  sent  there  for 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


177 


safety  when  the  flight  took  place  from  Seoul.  Hide- 
yoshi  was  deeply  mortified  by  the  failure  to  take  it, 
and  his  anger  was  not  mollified  by  the  fact  that,  after 
the  repulse,  the  castle  was  the  base  of  many  guerilla 
attacks  on  the  Japanese  forces  in  the  south,  in  which 
they  suffered  heavily.  He  did  not  forget  it,  and  was 
determined  to  avenge  his  defeat  before  any  peace 
was  made.  While  the  negotiations  were  in  actual 
progress  at  Nagoya,  while  protestations  of  sincere 
friendship  were  being  interchanged  with  the  Chinese 
Ambassador,  orders  that  Chinju  must  be  taken  were 
sent  to  the  generals  encamped  at  Fusan,  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  which  place  the  whole  strength  of  the 
Japanese  in  Korea,  recently  reinforced  by  fifty 
thousand  fresh  soldiers,  was  now  concentrated.  The 
Koreans,  in  their  turn,  had  assembled  the  largest 
force  which  had  throughout  the  war  been  united 
into  one  army,  and  they  were  sufficiently  confident 
in  themselves  to  meet  the  Japanese  in  the  open  a 
little  to  the  east  of  the  town.  But  neither  now  nor  at 
any  time  were  they,  no  matter  how  bravely  they 
fought,  a match  for  the  Japanese  when  in  line  of 
battle  in  the  open  field.  On  this  occasion  they  were 
mowed  down  in  thousands  by  the  Japanese  swords- 
men and  driven  back  into  the  castle,  which  was  im- 
mediately invested.  Then  the  Japanese  had  a harder 
task.  The  storming  parties  were  repeatedly  driven 
back  with  heavy  loss  from  the  castle  wall,  until  Kato 
devised  “ a testudo  of  ox -hides,  stretched  on  a frame- 
work, which  was  pushed  forward  on  wheels  to  the 
base  of  the  castle  walls.  Under  its  protection  the 
corner-stones  were  removed  by  crowbars  and  the 
wall  fell,  leaving  a breach  by  which  the  Japanese 
effected  an  entrance.”  Then  all  was  soon  over.  The 
massacre  of  the  open  field  was  repeated,  and  when 
that  was  over  the  old  castle  was  levelled  to  the 
ground.  Hideyoshi’s  vanity  was  appeased,  the  only 

12 


178 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


object  in  this  expedition,  which  in  its  utter  wanton- 
ness rivalled  the  whole  war,  but  at  the  cost  of  sixty 
thousand  Korean  lives  and  of  a heavy  loss  among  his 
own  troops. 

This  was  the  last  military  operation  of  what  is 
called  “ the  first  invasion.”  Thenceforward  the  much 
harried  country  enjoyed  a respite  of  peace  for  three 
years,  while  its  fate  was  being  discussed  by  the 
Chinese  and  Japanese  authorities,  with  as  little  regard 
to  its  own  wishes  as  reference  to  its  opinions.  Any- 
thing more  deplorable  than  the  condition  of  the 
country  at  this  period  it  would  be  difficult  to  imagine. 
Even  the  worst  records  of  Japan’s  o^\^l  miseries 
throughout  her  civil  wars  or  those  of  Germany  during 
the  Thirty  Years  War  pale  before  the  authentic 
historic  descriptions  of  what  the  Koreans  suffered, 
the  details  of  which  would  be  almost  offensive  to  tell 
in  this  place.  Their  Chinese  allies  had  been  scarcely 
less  a burthen  to  them  than  their  Japanese  enemies. 
Both  had  eaten  everything  available,  and  between  the 
two  there  was  nothing  left  for  the  wretched  natives, 
who  starved.  So  great  was  the  famine  that  spread 
throughout  the  whole  land  in  1594,  in  consequence 
of  the  impossibility  of  sowing  or  harvesting  in  the 
previous  years,  and  of  the  consumption  of  the  contents 
of  all  the  granaries,  that  not  even  the  Chinese  or 
Japanese  soldiers  could  find  enough  to  eat,  a 
fact  which  accelerated  the  ultimate  withdrawal  of 
both.  Notwithstanding  all  they  had  suffered,  the 
Korean  spirit  was  still  unbroken.  They  burned  for 
revenge  on  their  enemies,  and  they  still  scorned  the 
proposal  of  peace  until  the  last  Japanese  soldier  had 
left  their  shores. 

The  whole  story  of  the  negotiations  is  a very 
curious  illustration  of  the  methods  of  Eastern  diplo- 
matists and  of  the  difficulties  which  they  experienced 
with  their  o^vn  authorities.  Hideyoshi  had  to  be 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


179 


convinced  that  he  was  being  dealt  with  on  equal 
terms  with  the  Emperor  of  China.  The  latter,  on 
the  other  hand,  believed  that  Hideyoshi  was  a 
suppliant  begging  forgiveness  for  his  misdeeds,  and 
humbly  praying  for  the  honour  of  being  permitted  to 
offer  tribute  as  a vassal  to  the  Son  of  Heaven.  It 
says  well  for  the  astuteness  of  the  diplomatists,  if 
not  for  their  honesty  and  truth,  that  both  the  Emperor 
and  Hideyoshi  were  ultimately  satisfied.  The 
Koreans  were  warned  that,  if  they  obstinately  re- 
fused to  make  peace,  they  could  expect  no  further 
help  from  China,  and  a treaty  was  finally  concluded 
at  Peking,  the  main  terms  of  which  were  : 

1 . That  the  Chinese  Emperor  should  grant  royal 
investiture  to  Hideyoshi. 

2.  That  the  Japanese  should  leave  Korea. 

3.  That  the  Japanese  should  never  again  invade 
Korea. 

In  concluding  this  treaty  the  Japanese  envoy  at 
Peking  showed  himself  no  less  astute  or  unscrupulous 
than  had  been  the  Chinese  at  Nagoya  in  glossing  the 
truth  so  as  to  make  his  representations  palatable 
to  the  Chinese  Court.  He  went  so  far  as  to  say  that 
the  sacred  Emperor  of  Japan,  the  direct  descendant 
of  the  gods,  the  lineal  representative  of  a dynasty 
which  had  reigned  for  more  than  two  thousand  years, 
and  the  regent  Hideyoshi,  a lowly-bom  peasant 
who  only  held  his  office  while  his  right  arm  was 
strong  enough  to  defend  it,  were  one  and  the  same 
person. 

The  Chinese  carried  out  their  obligations  under 
the  treaty.  Their  troops  were  now  entirely  withdrawn 
from  Korea,  and  an  embassy  was  sent  overland  from 
Peking  to  Seoul  on  its  way  to  Japan  to  carry  out 
the  ceremonial  of  Hideyoshi’s  investiture.  The 
Japanese,  on  the  other  hand,  notwithstanding  their 
promises,  continued  to  hold  Fusan  and  a few  other 


180 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


garrisons  in  its  vicinity.  New  complications  accord- 
ingly arose  when  this  was  discovered  by  the  Chinese 
ambassadors,  of  whom  there  were  two,  and  they 
declined  to  continue  their  journey  beyond  Seoul  until 
the  Japanese  fulfilled  their  obligations  under  the 
treaty.  More  Oriental  duplicity  followed.  The 
Japanese  evacuated  all  the  garrisons  except  Fusan, 
and  they  only  held  this,  they  said,  until  the  Chinese 
ambassadors  gave  evidence  of  their  good  faith  by 
coming  into  the  camp  at  that  place.  Then,  when  the 
ambassadors  had  given  this  proof,  the  Japanese  said 
they  must  await  further  instructions  from  Hideyoshi, 
and  while  they  were  waiting  the  two  ambassadors 
were  virtual  prisoners  in  the  camp.  The  senior  of 
the  two  lost  both  his  trust  in  Japanese  honesty  and 
his  own  courage,  and  absconded,  leaving  even  his 
seals  of  office  behind  him,  and,  alone  and  unattended, 
secretly  made  his  way  by  mountain  paths  back  to 
Seoul,  suffering  much  privation  on  the  road.  Further 
communication  with  Peking  was  rendered  necessary 
by  this  contretemps,  and  what  with  the  delay  caused 
by  it  and  by  awaiting  Hideyoshi’s  instructions,  nearly 
a full  year  passed  between  the  first  arrival  of  the 
ambassadors  at  Fusan  and  tiieir  landing  at  Sakai, 
the  port  of  Osaka  where  Hideyoshi  was  to  receive 
them.  They  had  made  urgent  endeavours  to  induce 
the  Koreans  to  associate  a Korean  ambassador  with 
them,  but  all  they  had  succeeded  in  obtaining  was 
the  attachment  of  two  subordinate  officials  to  their 
ovm  retinue.  The  Japanese,  notwithstanding  the 
treaty  and  all  their  subsequent  assurances,  still  con- 
tinued to  garrison  Fusan. 

The  mainspring  of  all  the  delay  was  the  same  as 
that  which  caused  the  war  and  the  massacre  of 
Chinju — Hideyoshi’s  personal  vanity.  He  wished  to 
display  his  own  magnificence  to  the  utmost,  and  the 
ambassadors  were  purposely  delayed  by  his  instruc- 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


181 


tions  in  Fusan  while  he  made  the  necessary  prepara- 
tions to  that  end.  What  these  preparations  were  is 
fully  described  by  the  Jesuits  : 

“ He  built  a great  hall  for  audience  so  very  spacious  and  large, 
that  one  might  conveniently  spread  in  it  upward  of  a thousand 
Tatames.  These  Tatames  are  a fine  and  spacious  sort  of  mats,  full 
yard  and  a half  long,  and  half  yard  broad,  edged  with  gold  and  silk 
fringe,  and  embellished  with  rich  and  noble  squares  ; the  hall  itself 
was  built  of  precious  materials.  All  within  was  covered  with  gold. 
On  the  other  side  of  the  ditch  that  environed  the  palace,  he  raised 
a theatre  of  some  sixty  foot  long,  and  two  and  twenty  broad, 
supported  by  a number  of  pillars,  partly  plain,  partly  fluted,  and 
partly  twisted,  but  all  of  them  curiously  varnished,  and  distinguished 
with  variety  of  figures,  wrought  in  pure  gold.  Moreover  by  way  of 
passage  from  the  hall  to  this  theatre,  for  all  these  curiosities  were 
exposed,  he  laid  a bridge  over  the  ditch  of  some  sixty  foot  long 
which  cost,  for  workmanship  only,  near  fifteen  thousand  crowns. 
It  was  covered  at  the  top  with  gilt  slaits,  and  the  supports  as  well 
as  the  rails  and  greatest  part  of  the  pavement  were  all  covered  with 
plates  of  gold.”  ' 

All  his  preparations  were  nullified  and  his  vast 
expenditure  wasted.  On  the  night  of  August  30, 
1596,  one  of  the  most  terrible  of  the  many  terrible 
earthquakes  that  have  visited  Japan  spread  death 
and  destruction  throughout  Osaka,  and  it  was  followed 
within  a few  days  by  a second  no  less  violent.  “It 
was  so  frightful  and  terrible  as  if  all  the  devils  in 
Hell  had  broke  loose.”  ‘ All  Hideyoshi’s  great  build- 
ings, including  the  Hall  of  the  Thousand  Mats,  were 
levelled  to  the  ground.  His  palace  at  Fushimi,  which 
far  exceeded  the  rest  both  in  beauty,  riches,  and 
magnificence  of  structure,  shared  the  same  fate  ; his 
concubines  (of  whom  there  were  several  hundreds) 
were  crushed  in  its  ruins,  and  he  himself  barely 
escaped,  carrying  his  infant  son  in  his  arms,  to  take 
refuge  in  a peasant’s  hut  in  the  mountains,  where 
* Crasset,  “ History  of  the  Church  in  Japan,”  vol.  ii. 


182 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


he  remained  so  terrified  that  none  durst  speak  to 
him.  More  time  was  lost  while  the  traces  of  the 
ruin  were  being  effaced,  and  it  was  not  till  October 
that  Hideyoshi  was  in  a position  to  receive  the 
embassy.  The  reception  was  shorn  of  much  of  its 
intended  grandeur  ; but  it  was  still  very  impressive, 
and  Hideyoshi,  recovered  from  his  fright  and  in  high 
good-humour,  was  solemnly  invested,  in  the  presence 
of  all  his  Court,  with  the  insignia  of  royal  rank 
that  had  been  sent  by  the  Emperor  of  China,  and 
at  the  banquet  which  followed  the  investiture  “ all 
went  merry  as  a marriage  bell.” 

The  merriment  was  of  short  duration.  The  patent 
of  investiture  which  accompanied  the  insignia  was,  as 
usual,  written  in  the  most  classic  Chinese,  a language 
which,  in  its  written  form,  is  as  intelligible  to  any 
educated  Japanese  gentleman  as  is  a document  in 
French  to  a European  diplomatist.  But  Hideyoshi 
was  not  educated,  and  was  therefore  totally  unable 
to  read  the  patent  himself.  After  the  banquet  was 
over  he  accordingly  directed  two  priests  to  perform 
this  service  for  him,  and  they,  though  they  were 
earnestly  begged  by  Konishi  to  modify  its  language, 
faithfully  performed  their  functions  of  interpreters 
and  read  both  the  patent  and  the  letter  in  which  it 
was  enclosed  verbatim.  Its  text  was  as  follows  : 

" The  influence  of  the  holy  and  divine  one  [Confucius]  is  wide- 
spread ; he  is  honoured  and  loved  wherever  the  heavens  overhang 
and  the  earth  upbears.  The  Imperial’  command  is  universal ; even 
as  far  as  the  bounds  of  the  ocean  where  the  sun  rises,  there  are  none 
who  do  not  obey  it. 

"In ancient  times  our  Imperial  ancestors  bestowed  their  favours 
on  many  lands  : the  Tortoise  knots  and  the  Dragon  writing  were 
sent  to  the  limits  of  far  Fusang  [Japan],  the  pure  alabaster  and  the 
great  seal  character  were  granted  to  the  mountains  of  the  sub- 
missive country.  Thereafter  came  billowy  times  when  communica- 
tion was  interrupted,  but  an  auspicious  opportunity  has  now  arrived 
when  it  has  pleased  us  again  to  address  you. 


HIDEYOSHFS  INVASION 


183 


“You,  Toyotomi  Taira  Hideyoshi,  having  established  an  Island 
Kingdom,  and  knowing  the  reverence  due  to  the  Central  Land,  sent 
to  the  west  an  envoy,  and  with  gladness  and  affection  offered  )'our 
allegiance.  On  the  north  you  knocked  at  the  barrier  of  ten  thousand 
li,  and  earnestly  requested  to  be  admitted  within  our  dominions. 
Your  mind  is  already  confirmed  in  reverent  submissiveness.  How 
can  we  grudge  our  favour  to  so  great  meekness  ? 

“We  do  therefore  specially  invest  you  with  the  dignity  of  King  of 
Japan,  and  to  that  intent  issue  this  our  commission.  Treasure  it  up 
carefully.  Over  the  sea  we  send  you  a crown  and  robe,  so  that  you 
may  follow  our  ancient  custom  as  respects  dress.  Faithfully  defend 
the  Frontier  of  the  Empire  ; let  it  be  your  study  to  act  worthily  of 
your  position  as  our  Minister  ; practise  moderation  and  self-restraint ; 
cherish  gratitude  for  the  Imperial  favour  so  bountifully  bestowed 
upon  you  ; change  not  your  fidelity ; be  humbly  guided  by  our 
admonitions  ; continue  always  to  follow  our  instructions. 

“Respect  this  !’’ 

The  tone  of  the  letter  was  similar  to  that  of  the 
patent.  It  gave  detailed  instructions  to  Hideyoshi 
as  to  the  administration  of  his  own  Government  ; 
and  he  was  told  to  “ respectfully  follow  the  commands 
given  to  him  and  to  let  there  be  no  deviation  from 
them,  for  severe  is  the  glance  of  Heaven  and 
resplendently  bright  are  the  Imperial  precepts.” 

Hideyoshi’s  indignation  at  both  documents  was 
as  might  have  been  expected.  Instead  of  being 
acclaimed  as  the  royal  equal  of  the  Emperor  of 
China,  he  found  himself  treated  as  a vassal  who 
had  erred  from  the  path  of  duty  to  his  suzerain  and 
was  now  humbly  suing  for  pardon.  He  tore  off 
the  crown  and  robes  that  had  been  sent  to  him 
and  flung  the  patent  beneath  his  feet.  He  ordered 
the  ambassadors  to  quit  Japan  without  delay,  without 
showing  them  the  most  ordinary  courtesies  of  inter- 
national usage,  and  they  embarked  in  such  haste  that 
they  were  obliged  to  take  their  passages  in  vessels 
with  no  proper  accommodation  for  them  or  their 
suites.  When  the  first  burst  of  passion  was  over 


184 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


and  time  came  for  reflection,  Hideyoshi  recognised 
the  folly  of  again  embroiling  himself  with  China 
and,  tyrant  as  he  was,  directed  his  wrath  against 
the  innocent,  suffering,  and  exhausted  Korea. 

Two  subordinate  Korean  officials  accompanied  the 
Chinese  embassy.  Hideyoshi  from  the  first,  even 
when  he  was  most  lavish  in  his  compliments  to  the 
ambassadors,  refused  to  receive  them,  alleging  that 
the  Korean  princes  who  had  been  prisoners  of  war 
should  either  have  come  in  person  or  sent  an 
embassy  of  high  officials  to  express  their  thanks  for 
their  release.  This  grievance  was  now  disinterred 
and  even  more  vigorous  life  given  to  it  than  it  had 
originally.  The  Koreans  were  also  charged  with 
having  concealed  from  Hideyoshi  the  true  condition 
of  China  and  with  having  thrown  obstacles  in  the 
way  of  peace  between  China  and  Japan.  These  were 
quite  sufficient  grounds  for  a renewal  of  the  war 
and  for  another  invasion.  Once  more  Japan  was 
astir  with  military  preparations  ; and  by  March,  1897, 
such  strong  reinforcements  had  been  poured  into 
Korea  that  a Japanese  army  of  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand  men  was  encamped  around  Fusan, 
the  principal  commands  being  once  more  divided 
between  Konishi  and  Kato. 

The  question  naturally  arises.  What  had  become  of 
Korea’s  navy,  and  where  was  her  distinguished 
admiral,  that  this  great  force,  of  the  coming  of  which 
there  was  full  warning,  was  permitted  to  land  with  no 
more  opposition  than  that  which  was  encountered  by 
the  first  expedition?  The  answer  is  a sad  illustration 
of  the  canker  of  the  Court  intrigue  and  corruption  that 
turned  Korea’s  military  administration  into  rottenness 
and  made  her  generals  each  anxious  only  for  his 
own  interests  and  as  eager  to  thwart  his  rivals  as  he 
was  to  inflict  damage  on  his  enemies.  The  brave 
and  able  admiral  had  fallen  a victim  to  the  intrigues 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


185 


of  the  miserable  Court  and  to  the  slanders  of  political 
rivals,  and,  as  has  been  told  in  a preceding  chapter, 
the  reward  which  he  received  for  his  great  and 
glorious  services  was  that,  not  only  of  deprivation  of 
his  command  but  of  reduction  to  the  ranks.  He  was 
now  serving  as  a common  sailor,  while  the  fleet  was 
commanded  by  one  who  owed  his  post  entirely  to 
Court  influence,  who  united  in  himself  the  qualifica- 
tions of  incompetence  and  drunkenness,  and  who  was 
equally  hated  and  despised  by  his  men.  Under  such 
a commander  the  fleet  had  fallen  into  utter  disor- 
ganisation and  was  useless  as  a defensive  factor.  The 
Japanese,  on  the  other  hand,  taught  by  their  previous 
bitter  experience,  had  given  special  care  to  their 
naval  affairs,  and  had  now  at  their  disposal  a well 
manned  and  well  found  fleet.  It  is  anticipating  some- 
what the  course  of  events,  but  for  convenience  sake 
the  story  may  now  be  told  of  the  naval  operations 
of  the  second  war. 

iWon  Kiun,  the  new  admiral,  lay  idly  in  the  shelter 
of  one  of  the  islands  off  the  south-west  coast  till  the 
landing  of  the  Japanese  forces  had  been  completed. 
The  Japanese  fleet  after  the  landing  of  the  troops  re- 
mained in  the  harbour  of  Fusan,  and  Won  Kiun  at 
last  very  reluctantly  obeyed  the  orders  he  had 
received  to  attack  it.  All  the  circumstances  of  the 
attack  were  the  exact  antithesis  of  those  that  attended 
Yi  Sun’s  great  victory.  Yi  Sun  led  a well  found  fleet, 
manned  by  officers  and  crews  full  of  confidence  in  the 
skill  and  bravery  of  their  admiral.  He  chose  a day 
on  which  he  had  the  advantage  of  a fair  wind,  so 
that  his  crews  arrived  on  the  scene  of  battle  with 
all  their  physical  strength  in  reserve.  .Won  Kiun,  on 
the  other  hand,  commanded  a fleet,  large  in  numbers 
and  tonnage,  but  ill  found  in  every  respect,  not  even 
properly  provided  with  the  most  necessary  provisions, 
even  with  water,  whose  officers  and  crews  despised 


186 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


and  hated  their  admiral,  and  in  advancing  to  the 
attack,  on  the  day  chosen  by  their  admiral,  all 
had  to  face  a strong  head  wind.  The  conse- 
quence was  that,  when  they  arrived  on  the  scene, 
late  in  the  day,  all  the  energy  of  the  crews 
had  been  expended  at  their  oars  and  they 
were,  in  addition,  exhausted  with  hunger  and  thirst. 
The  attack,  feeble  as  it  was,  was  easily  beaten  off,  and 
the  surviving  Korean  ships  fled  to  a neighbouring 
island,  where  the  crews,  mad  with  thirst,  rushed  ashore 
for  water.  There  they  were  again  attacked  by  the 
victorious  Japanese,  and  the  survivors  once  more  had 
to  seek  safety  in  an  ignominious  flight,  this  time  to 
their  original  anchorage  ; there  they  were  safe  for  the 
time  being.  The  admiral  was  not  shot,  as  was  a later 
English  admiral,  but,  as  an  incentive  to  better  conduct 
for  the  future,  flogged.  The  punishment  failed  in 
its  intention.  He  endeavoured  to  drown  his  humilia- 
tion in  drink,  and  the  result  was  that,  soon  after, 
both  he  and  the  remnant  of  his  fleet  were  easily 
taken  by  the  confident  Japanese.  Here  we  may 
leave  the  unfortunate  Won  Kiun,  who  appears  no 
more  in  our  story.  We  shall  again  have  to  mention 
his  gallant  rival,  Yi  Sun. 

The  fruits  of  these  naval  successes  on  the  part  of 
the  Japanese  were  as  striking  as  had  been  those  of 
the  Korean  naval  victory  five  years  before.  The 
Japanese  had  complete  command  of  the  sea,  and 
their  armies  were  at  liberty  to  open  the  land  cam- 
paign in  full  confidence  that  they  would  be  supported 
by  all  the  supplies  and  reinforcements  they  might 
require  from  Japan.  Before  endeavouring  to  describe 
the  campaign  we  must  revert  to  the  Chinese. 

iWhen  the  humiliated  ambassadors  returned  to 
Peking  after  their  insulting  dismissal  by  Hideyoshi, 
they  at  first  endeavoured  to  conceal  what  had  occurred 
and  actually  produced  spurious  presents  which  they 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


187 


alleged  had  been  sent  by  Hideyoshi  in  gratitude  for 
the  honour  that  had  been  shown  to  him  by  the 
Emperor.  They  had,  however,  no  letter  in  reply 
to  that  of  the  Emperor,  the  presents  were  seen  not 
to  be  Japanese  productions,  and  a strict  investigation 
that  followed  disclosed  all  the  circumstances  of  the 
failure  of  their  mission.  The  ambassadors  were  both 
disgraced — one  of  them  subsequently  became  a 
fugitive  to  Japan,  where  he  was  imprisoned  and 
beheaded — and  it  was  determined  to  wipe  out  the 
affront  that  had  been  offered  to  the  Emperor 
and  once  more  espouse  the  cause  of  the  threatened 
tributary.  A beginning  was  made  by  sending  a force 
of  three  thousand  men,  which  was  soon  largely  rein- 
forced. The  whole  of  the  south-western  province 
of  Cholla  was  occupied  and  the  fortresses  of  Nam- 
won  and  Chinju  strengthened  and  garrisoned. 

It  was  one  of  the  principles  of  Hideyoshi’s  strategy 
that  an  invading  army  should  support  itself  at  the 
expense  of  the  occupied  country,  and  in  fulfilment  of 
this  principle  the  Japanese,  who,  all  told,  numbered 
one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  men,  remained  in 
their  camps  near  Fusan  till  the  Korean  harvest  was 
ready  for  reaping.  This  was  not  until  the  month  of 
October.  A general  advance  was  then  made,  the  first 
object  being  the  fortress  of  Namwon,  which  was 
taken  by  assault.  The  whole  garrison  was  put  to 
the  sword,  and  over  three  thousand  heads  of  the 
slain  were  pickled  and  forwarded  to  Hideyoshi  as 
evidence  of  the  victory.  The  provinces  of  Cholla 
and  Chhung  Chyong  were  then  overrun,  and  Seoul 
was  once  more  threatened,  so  much  so  that  the 
advisability  was  discussed  of  the  King  once  more 
leaving  his  capital.  Only  the  ladies  of  the  Court, 
however,  were  sent  away,  and  the  capital  was  saved 
by  a fiercely  contested  battle  at  Chik-san,  a town 
in  the  extreme  north  of  Chhung  Chyong,  about  eighty 


188 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


miles  from  the  capital  and  not  far  from  Asan,  where 
nearly  three  hundred  years  later  the  Japanese  and 
Chinese  were  destined  to  again  try  the  fortune  of 
arms.  The  issue  of  the  battle  was  undecided,  but 
the  Japanese  loss  was  heavy  : their  prospect  of  being 
able  to  winter  in  the  capital  was  gone  ; large  Chinese 
reinforcements,  under  the  Commander -in -Chief,  were, 
it  was  known,  on  their  way  to  Seoul  ; supplies  were 
difficult  to  obtain  ; and  it  was  decided  to  retreat  once 
more  and  winter  in  their  old  camps  in  the  south.  The 
retreat  was  accomplished  without  pursuit  or  attack 
on  the  way,  but  on  the  part  of  the  Japanese  it  was 
a continuous  progress  of  destruction.  Each  town 
that  they  passed  on  their  march  was  ruthlessly 
plundered  ; and  the  culmination  of  their  vandalism 
was  reached  at  Kyunju,  the  historic  capital  of  the 
ancient  kingdom  of  Silla,  rich  in  noble  memorials  of 
the  past  and  in  the  best  artistic  products  of  medieval 
Korean  art.  It  was  one  of  the  birthplaces  of  the 
Japanese  civilisation  and  contained  much  that  should 
have  appealed  to  their  national  sentiment,  but  the 
soul  of  a retreating  army,  whose  foes  are  not  far 
off,  is  dead  to  sentiment.  The  town  was  sacked  and 
as  the  Japanese  marched  out  of  it  they  set  it  on 
fire  in  many  places,  and  left  behind  them  only 
blackened  walls  and  empty  spaces  to  represent  what 
had  been  a great  and  flourishing  city.  They  were 
not  allowed  much  time  for  repose  when  they  reached 
their  camps  in  the  south.  They  were  speedily 
followed  by  both  Chinese  and  Korean  forces  ; and 
Yolsan,  a strongly  fortified  town  on  the  coast,  with 
communication  therefore  by  sea  as  well  as  by  land 
with  the  headquarters  at  Fusan,  the  most  northern 
of  the  Japanese  positions,  held  by  Kato  with  a 
large  garrison,  was  soon  invested  by  the  allied 
armies. 

The  Japanese  were  driven  from  the  outer  entrench- 


BL'DDlllST  TKMl'I.liS  AT  KYI  N Jl'. 


HIDEYOSHFS  INVASION 


189 


ments  into  the  citadel,  but  they  successfully  repelled 
several  vigorous  efforts  that  were  made  to  take  the 
citadel  by  storm.  Then  the  siege  was  converted  into 
a blockade,  which  the  Japanese  were  ill  prepared  to 
endure.  Their  land  communications  had  all  been 
cut  off.  The  sea  was  open,  but  Yi  Sun  had  been 
restored  to  his  rank  and  command  and  he  was  once 
more  afloat  and  his  flag  flying.  Supplies  could  not 
be  relied  on  from  Fusan,  when  the  vigorous  and 
enterprising  Korean  admiral  might  swoop  down  on 
transports  at  any  moment  and  the  garrison  of  Yol- 
san  was  reduced  to  the  utmost  straits. 

" Their  supplies  of  rice  were  soon  exhausted,  the  cattle  and  horses 
followed  next,  and  officers  and  men  alike  were  in  a short  time 
reduced  to  the  utmost  extremities.  They  chewed  earth  and  paper 
and,  stealing  out  by  night,  thought  themselves  fortunate  if  they 
could  find  among  the  corpses  lying  outside  the  walls  some  dead 
Chinaman  whose  haversack  was  not  entirely  empty." 

Their  only  fuel  was  furnished  by  the  arrows  that 
were  shot  into  the  citadel  by  their  foes.  The  New 
Year’s  festal  season — the  greatest  social  festival  of 
the  year  with  Japanese,  Chinese,  and  Koreans  alike — 
was  passed  within  the  fortress  walls  in  gloom  and 
want,  while  in  the  camps  of  the  besiegers  outside 
there  were  merriment  and  abundance.  Surrender 
could  have  brought  to  the  besieged  nothing  but  the 
fate  to  which  they  had  consigned  the  garrisons  of 
Namwon,  Chinju,  and  many  others.  They  had  never 
shown  mercy  to  a fallen  foe  and  could  expect  none 
themselves.  But  they  were  not  destined  to  fall.  The 
New  Year  (1598)  had  not  long  run  its  course  when 
a strong  relieving  army  came  to  their  assistance  from 
Fusan.  The  besiegers,  simultaneously  attacked  on  the 
rear  by  fresh  and  vigorous  soldiers  and  in  their 
front  by  the  emaciated  garrison,  whom  their  weak- 
ness did  not  prevent  sallying  forth  to  the  assistance  of 


190 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


their  relievers,  gave  way  and  raised  the  siege,  suffer- 
ing heavy  loss  as  they  retreated. 

Notwithstanding  this  defeat,  the  Chinese  were  still 
in  such  strength  that  they  were  able  to  confine  the 
Japanese  to  their  entrenched  camps  in  the  south- 
eastern comer  of  the  peninsula  ; and  while  the  Chinese 
were  being  constantly  reinforced  from  their  own 
country  and  by  Koreans,  Hideyoshi,  disappointed  at 
the  failure  to  advance  on  the  capital,  and  now  prob- 
ably so  sick  of  the  cost  and  losses  of  the  war  that 
he  was  only  awaiting  a favourable  opportunity  to 
make  overtures  for  peace,  withdrew  sixty  thousand 
men  to  Japan.  He  had  another  vital  reason  for  this 
step.  His  own  health  was  rapidly  failing.  His  whole 
ambition  now  was  to  secure  the  succession  to  his 
infant  son,  and  to  that  end  he  wished  before  he 
died  to  have  all  the  available  strength  of  an  army 
on  the  devotion  of  whose  officers  he  could  rely  close 
at  his  hand.  Only  sixty  thousand  Japanese  soldiers 
were  now  left  in  Korea,  but  these  were  sufficient  to 
hold  their  own  against  repeated  attempts  to  dislodge 
them  by  greatly  superior  forces  of  both  Chinese  and 
Koreans.  The  last  great  battle  was  fought  at  So- 
chon,  twenty  miles  due  west  of  Fusan.  Here  an 
attack  of  the  allies  was  beaten  off  by  the  Japanese 
with  such  slaughter  that  after  the  battle  nearly  thirty- 
nine  thousand  Chinese  heads  were  gathered  from  the 
field.  They  were  too  numerous  to  send  as  trophies  to 
Japan,  so  the  ears  and  noses  were  cut  off  and  sent 
in  their  place.  This  battle  was  fought  on  the  30th 
of  October,  and  the  soldiers  had  scarcely  had  time  to 
rest  after  their  gruesome  task  of  packing  the  ears 
and  noses  had  been  completed  when  the  news  came 
that  Hideyoshi  was  dead  and  that  his  dying  words 
were,  “ Don’t  let  my  soldiers  become  ghosts  in  Korea.” 
His  closing  days  were  darkened  by  the  thought  that 
all  their  sacrifices  had  been  in  vain  and  nothing 


HIDEYOSHI’S  INVASION 


191 


better  than  they  had  done  could  be  hoped  for  in  the 
future.  However  ruthlessly  he  had  sacrificed  them 
when  his  ambition  and  revenge  still  seemed  open  to 
gratification,  his  last  thoughts  were  how  to  withdraw 
them  with  honour. 

The  provisional  Government  which  assumed  office 
in  Japan  on  his  death  hastened  to  fulfil  his  wishes. 
The  country  was  sick  of  the  war,  and  it  seemed  only 
too  likely  that  there  would  soon  be  full  employment 
for  all  the  soldiers  in  their  own  country — ^that  Japan 
would  soon  again  be  in  the  agonies  of  civil  war.  One 
more  episode  has  to  be  told.  After  the  disgrace  of 
Won  Kiun,  the  old  admiral  Yi  Sun  was  restored  to 
his  rank  and  command.  He  reorganised  the  fleet,  |and 
by  his  tact  completely  won  the  goodwill  of  the 
Chinese  admiral,  who  brought  a large  Chinese  fleet 
to  co-operate  with  him.  The  Japanese  evacuation 
was  carried  out  with  great  haste.  Neither  the  Swiss 
nor  the  Irish  are  a greater  prey  to  the  effects  of 
nostalgia  than  are  the  Japanese.  Even  in  their  own 
country  they  suffer  from  it  when  away  from  their 
native  districts,  and  few  are  able  to  bear  long  ex- 
patriation. Some  of  the  soldiers  had  been  detained 
in  Korea  from  the  first  invasion,  and  they  and  their 
more  newly  arrived  comrades  were  one  and  all  yearn- 
ing for  home  with  a heart-sick  longing  that  was 
impatient  of  delay.  The  moment  permission  came 
for  them  to  leave  Korea  they  crowded  into  transports 
without  heed  to  the  possible  danger  of  the  passage 
over  seas  on  which  they  had  now  no  naval  security. 
They  had  scarcely  started  from  Fusan  when  the  allied 
fleets  swooped  down  on  one  large  division  and 
destroyed  many  of  the  scattered  Japanese  ships, 
both  convoys  and  transports.  In  this  last  fight 
Yi  Sun  died  as  Nelson  died,  shot  on  his  own  quarter- 
deck but  surviving  long  enough  to  know  that  the  war 
was  ended  by  a Korean  victory  on  the  seas  on  which 
they  had  won  their  first  great  success.  , 


192 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


The  Japanese  who  escaped  the  allied  fleets  and 
reached  their  homes  brought  back  with  them  large 
quantities  of  plunder.  All  the  art  treasures  of  Korea 
which  they  had  not  given  to  the  flames  they  carried 
away  with  them,  leaving  Korea  denuded  of  all  her 
mementoes  of  the  days  in  which  her  artists  possessed 
a high  degree  of  skill.  Along  with  the  art  treasures 
they  brought  with  them  as  prisoners  of  war  many 
of  the  artists  and  skilled  artisans  who  were  settled 
in  Japan  and  never  permitted  to  return  to  their  own 
land,  and  who  are  the  ancestors  of  the  Japanese 
potters  whose  work  now  commands  the  enthusiastic 
admiration  of  the  connoisseurs  of  the  West.  They 
also  brought  back  with  them  the  practice  of  smoking. 
Tobacco  had  been  made  known  to  the  Japanese  by 
the  Portuguese  traders  several  years  before  the 
Korean  War  ; but  it  was  during  the  war  that  its  use 
spread  among  the  soldiers,  and  they,  on  their  return, 
introduced  it  among  their  compatriots  at  large,  and 
laid  the  foundation  of  a national  habit  that  is  now 
almost  universal  among  both  men  and  women. 
Opposite  the  great  temple  of  Daibutsu  in  Kioto,  the 
building  of  which  was  seventeen  years  later  the 
remote  cause  of  the  ruin  of  Hide5mshi’s  only  son,  a 
mound  stands,  capped  by  a stone  monument,  which 
is  shown  to  every  European  visitor  to  the  ancient 
capital  of  Japan  as  the  Mimi  Dzuka,  or  “ear  mound.” 
It  is  the  grave  of  the  ears  and  noses  cut  oflf,  not 
only  from  the  slain  in  battle  but  even  from  living 
Korean  prisoners  of  war,  and  sent  to  Hideyoshi  as 
evidence  of  his  soldiers’  exploits. 

Plunder  which,  however  large  to  the  units  of  the 
army,  was  insignificant  from  the  national  point  of 
view,  a few  colonies  of  artists  and  skilled  artisans, 
the  use  of  tobacco,  and  the  Mimi  Dzuka  were  all 
the  acquisitions  that  Japan  had  to  show  as  the  result 
of  one  of  the  most  reckless,  wanton,  and  cruel  wars 


HIDEYOSHFS  INVASION 


193 


that  is  told  of  in  the  history  of  the  world,  undertaken 
solely  for  the  gratification  of  the  ambition  and  vanity 
of  one  man.  Its  cost  to  the  Japanese  was  a heavy, 
one.  More  than  three  hundred  thousand  soldiers 
were  employed  in  the  first  invasion,  and  the  number 
of  those  in  the  second  exceeded  one  hundred  and 
thirty  thousand.  More  than  fifty  thousand  of  these 
were  left  dead  in  Korea.  Many  more  were 
missing,  stragglers  or  deserters  from  the  retreating 
or  starving  armies  who  were  captured  by  the  Koreans, 
and  who  were  lost  to  their  own  i>eople  among  the 
Korean  mountains,  where  they  became  absorbed  in 
the  native  population. 

All  the  value  of  the  plunder  brought  to  Japan 
was  not  a minute  fraction  of  that  of  the  treasure 
that  had  been  expended.  Military  glory  was  the 
great  asset  of  the  war,  and  even  that  was  not  un- 
tarnished. Soldiers,  who  were  veterans  in  themselves, 
who  inherited  all  the  instincts  and  traditions  of  pro- 
genitors who  had  been  continuously  fighting  for  two 
hundred  years  under  experienced  and  skilful  generals, 
armed  with  the  best  weapons  of  their  time,  at  first 
carried  all  before  them  in  overwhelming  triumph  ; 
but  their  career  of  victory  was  broken  when  they 
were  confronted  with  the  well  equipped  and  disci- 
plined soldiers  of  another  great  power  and  when  the 
whole  of  an  outraged  people  rose  in  fury  against 
their  rapacity  and  cruelty. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  Koreans  were  avenged. 
.Within  two  years  the  soldiers  and  the  two  greatest 
of  the  generals  who  had  slaughtered  them  were  in 
arms  against  each  other.  Kato,  the  anti-Christian, 
took  the  winning  side,  and  lived  in  wealth  and  honour 
till  a green  old  age,  and  after  his  death  was  deified 
and  is  still  worshipped,  not  only  as  a national  hero 
but  as  a Buddhist  divinity.  Konishi,  the  devout 
Christian,  the  pride  of  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  was 

13 


194 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


on  the  side  of  the  losers,  and  his  head  fell  beneath 
the  executioner’s  sword  on  the  common  execution- 
ground  at  Kioto  only  two  years  after  the  evacuation 
of  Korea.  Hideyoshi’s  only  son  perished  in  the 
destruction  of  the  great  castle  which  his  father  had 
built  at  Osaka,  and  with  him  died  the  last  member  of 
the  dynasty  which  it  was  the  great  tyrant’s  ambi- 
tion to  establish  in  power  for  ever,  an  ambition  of 
which  the  Korean  War  was  one  of  the  side-issues. 

The  ruin  and  humiliation  inflicted  on  Korea  were 
in  inverse  ratio  to  the  gain  and  glory  to  Japan.  Her 
population  was  more  than  decimated  in  battle,  by 
famine,  and  by  disease.  The  support  of  her  Chinese 
allies  had  been  almost  as  great  a burthen  to  her  as 
the  plundering  of  her  foes.  Between  the  two  the 
unhappy  native  had  starved,  and  famine  had  brought 
in  its  train  cholera  and  typhus  to  complete  its  work. 
The  horrors  that  were  witnessed  after  the  Japanese 
evacuation  of  Seoul,  not  only  in  the  capital  itself 
but  throughout  the  ravaged  province  would  not  bear 
telling  in  these  pages.  The  King  had  been  forced 
to  seek  safety  in  flight  ; the  capital  and  the  two  most 
ancient  towns,  both  the  seats  of  former  capitals,  both 
rich  in  every  tradition  of  history  and  religion  that 
appealed  to  the  veneration  and  pride  of  the  people, 
had  been  occupied  and  sacked  with  remorseless 
cruelty  ; industries  had  been  destroyed,  and  the 
followers  so  exterminated  that  the  industries  vanished 
from  Korea  for  ever,  and  the  whole  people  were  left 
with  such  memories  of  suffering  and  outrage  that 
to  this  day  “ the  accursed  nation  ” continues  to  be 
a common  vernacular  term  in  Korea  for  Japan. 

We  have  told  the  story  of  the  war  at  some  length, 
but  it  might  have  been  considerably  extended  had 
not  the  limits  of  our  space  confined  us  to  its  general 
outlines  and  forbidden  us  to  tell  of  the  many  instances 
of  individual  heroism  which  took  place  on  both  sides. 


HIDEYOSHI’S  IN\^ASION 


195 


It  is  in  itself  an  interesting  chapter  in  the  world’s 
history  that  has  not  been  without  its  effect  on  modem 
politics  in  the  Far  East.  It  is  specifically  interesting 
as  one  that  affords  a very  vivid  illustration  of  the 
value  of  sea  power,  as  the  one  which  gives  us  the 
first  recorded  instance  of  an  ironclad  in  action  and 
of  the  use  of  bombs  in  sieges. 


CHAPTER  X 


CHOSEN.  SECOND  PERIOD 

For  fifteen  years  after  the  conclusion  of  the  Korean 
War,  Japan  had  her  hands  full  enough  at  home  to  take 
away  all  thought  of  meddling  with  affairs  beyond 
her  borders.  When  the  capture  of  the  castle  of 
Osaka  and  the  death  of  Hideyoshi’s  only  son  removed 
the  last  obstacle  which  stood  in  the  path  of  lyeyasu’s 
ambition,  and  the  founder  of  the  Tokugawa  Shoguns 
was  firmly  established  as  the  autocratic  ruler  of  the 
Empire,  his  thoughts  reverted  to  the  scenes  of  Hide- 
yoshi’s foreign  campaigns,  and  to  the  renewal  of  official 
relations  with  Korea.  Fusan  had  never  been  entirely 
abandoned  by  the  Japanese,  and  trade  in  a very  in- 
significant way  had  continued  from  the  close  of  the 
war  to  be  carried  on  between  Fusan  and  Tsushima, 
but  there  was  no  official  intercourse  between  the 
two  Governments.  Repeated  informal  requests  were 
conveyed  from  the  Court  of  the  Shogun  at  Yedo 
to  the  Koreans  through  the  feudatory  of  Tsushima 
that  they  should  resume  the  old  custom  of  sending 
tribute-bearing  embassies  to  Japan  ; but  it  was  not 
until  1617,  when  lyeyasu  was  dead  and  his  son 
Hidetada,  the  second  Tokugawa  Shogun,  ruled  in 
his  stead,  that  they  at  last  consented.  At  this  time 
the  first  English  representatives  of  the  East  India 
Company  were  in  Japan,  endeavouring  to  acquire  a 
share  in  the  profitable  trade  that  the  Portuguese  at 
first,  and  the  Dutch  later  on,  had  for  some  years 

196 


CHOSEN— SECOND  PERIOD  197 


carried  on  at  Nagasaki  and  Hirado.  Cocks,  the  head 
of  the  English  adventurers,  had  just  been  summoned 
to  Yedo  from  Hirado,  and  his  overland  journey  was 
made  almost  simultaneously  with  that  of  the  first 
Korean  embassy. 

From  his  description  of  the  embassy  and  of  the 
arrangements  made  for  its  reception,  it  is  evident 
that  the  Shogun  was  more  than  gratified  by  this  testi- 
monial to  his  greatness,  and  that  he  was  anxious  on 
his  side  to  render  every  attention  that  international 
courtesy  demanded,  and  to  wipe  out  all  memory  of 
the  affronts  that  Hideyoshi  had  heaped  on  the  un- 
fortunate Korean  missions  before  the  war.  At 
Hirado,  where  the  ambassador  landed  with  a suite 
which  numbered  in  all  more  than  five  hundred 
persons,  the  local  feudatory  deputed  his  brother  and 
twenty  of  the  richest  and  handsomest  of  his  vassals 
to  wait  on  him,  and  at  every  town  at  which  he 
stayed  while  on  his  way  from  Hirado  to  Yedo 
new  houses  were  by  order  built  for  his  recep- 
tion, and  all  the  necessities  for  his  journey,  both 
by  land  and  water,  provided  for  him  with  regal 
liberality  at  the  Shogun’s  cost.  The  embassy  passed 
through  the  great  commercial  city  of  Osaka,  the 
actual  scene  of  Hideyoshi’s  insults  twenty-seven  years 
before,  “ in  very  pompous  sort,”  with  trumpeters  and 
“ hobboys  ” sounding  before  them.  Cocks  was  a little 
in  advance  of  them  throughout  the  journey.  He  had 
hoped  to  gain  an  interview  with  the  ambassador  and, 
in  his  ignorance  of  Korean  exclusiveness,  to  pave  the 
way  for  opening  up  a trade  between  England  and 
Korea,  which  might  be  as  profitable  to  the  first 
European  adventurers  in  the  field  as  that  with  Japan 
had  been  to  the  Portuguese  and  Dutch.  But  fortune 
did  not  favour  him.  He  had  no  interview,  and  the 
only  direct  result  of  the  embassy  to  him  was  that, 
arriving  a little  in  its  advance  at  Fushimi,  on  the  road 


198 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


between  Osaka  and  Kioto,  where  its  coming  was 
expected,  he  and  his  sailors  were  mistaken  by  the 
inhabitants  for  the  more  distinguished  visitors  who 
were  on  their  way,  and  the  streets  were  in  their 
honour  hastily  strewed  with  sand  and  gravel,  and 
“ multitudes  thronged  to  see  us.” 

Thenceforward  peaceful  relations  continued  be- 
tween Japan  and  Korea.  Every  year  a mission  bear- 
ing presents  came  to  Yedo,  all  the  expenses  of  its 
journey  from  Tsushima  being  defrayed  by  the  rich 
Shoguns,  who  gladly  paid  this  price  for  the  tribute 
that  was  rendered  to  their  vanity.  This  custom  con- 
tinued till  close  on  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
when  it  began  to  pall  on  the  sated  palates  of  the 
Shoguns  and  to  seem  a luxury  too  dearly  purchased 
by  its  cost.  The  Koreans  were  then  told  that  their 
mission  need  come  no  farther  than  Tsushima,  where 
it  could  discharge  its  offices  with  the  local  feudatory 
as  the  representative  of  the  Shogun.  Through  all 
these  years  a Japanese  trading  factory  was  main- 
tained at  Fusan  under  conditions  not  very  dissimilar 
to  those  under  which  the  Dutch  were,  at  the  same 
time,  trading  with  the  Japanese  at  Nagasaki.  The 
Japanese  at  Fusan  were  not,  as  were  the  Dutch  at 
Nagasaki,  compelled  to  make  an  annual  pilgrimage 
to  the  capital  at  a cost  the  enormity  of  which  was 
a constant  sore  in  the  hearts  of  the  frugal  Dutchmen 
in  Japan,  nor  to  temporarily  convert  themselves  into 
buffoons  for  the  entertainment  of  courtiers  who  re- 
garded them  as  pariahs,  almost  as  vermin,  but  the 
members  of  the  factory  were  rigidly  confined  within 
its  narrow  limits  and  never  permitted  to  proceed  into 
the  interior  of  the  country,  not  even  to  enter  the 
closely  neighbouring  prefectural  town  of  Tongnai  ; the 
number  of  their  ships  that  were  permitted  to  discharge 
or  load  in  the  harbour  each  year  was  strictly  limited, 
and  every  mercantile  transaction,  whether  of  sale  or 


CHOSEN— SECOND  PERIOD  199 


purchase,  took  place  under  official  supervision  at 
appointed  hours  on  two  or  three  fixed  occasions  in 
each  year.  While,  however,  subjected  to  these  com- 
mercial restrictions,  the  Japanese  were  present  at 
Fusan  rather  as  the  English  at  Calais  than  the  Dutch 
at  Nagasaki — not  like  the  latter,  humble,  cringing 
suppliants,  willing  to  submit  to  any  personal  degrada- 
tion for  the  sake  of  the  golden  harvest  which  was 
yearly  reaped  by  them,  but  like  the  English,  tena- 
ciously clinging  to  the  last  vestige  of  their  conquest 
of  the  whole  country. 

The  factory  was  under  the  control  of  S5,  the  feudal 
prince  of  Tsushima,  the  direct  descendant  of  Hide- 
yoshi’s  envoy  and  general,  and  a garrison  of  his 
men-at-arms  was  maintained  in  it,  not  so  much  for 
the  protection  of  the  traders,  who  had  nothing  to  fear, 
but  as  the  symbol  of  conquest.  Its  presence  was  as 
galling  to  the  national  pride  of  the  Koreans  as  was 
that  of  British  and  French  troops  in  Yokohama  to 
the  Japanese  themselves  two  hundred  years  later  ; 
but  the  first  Korean  ambassador  in  vain  asked  that 
both  soldiers  and  factory  should  be  removed  from 
Fusan,  and  Tsushima  made  the  depot  of  trade  be- 
tween the  two  countries.  The  Japanese  continued 
to  cling  to  their  holding  till  the  last  chapter,  when 
Fusan  became  what  is  called  in  the  Far  East  “ an  open 
port  ” — i.e.,  a maritime  city  in  which  the  subjects  of 
other  countries  have  the  right  under  treaty  provisions 
to  reside  and  trade.  The  Koreans,  on  the  other  hand, 
“ saved  their  faces  ” by  the  following  explanation  of 
the  exception  in  favour  of  the  Japanese  of  their  policy 
of  national  isolation  : 

“ In  the  reign  of  Sejong  (1419-50)  several  barbarians  from 
the  Island  of  Tsushima  left  their  homes  and  settled  themselves 
at  Fusan  and  two  other  small  ports  on  the  shores  of  Korea 
The  number  of  the  settlers  increased  quickly.  When  Chong. 
Jong  (1506-45)  had  been  five  years  on  the  throne  these 


200 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


barbarians  made  a disturbance  and  in  one  night  destroyed  the 
walls  of  Fusan  and  killed  the  prefect.  They  were  suppressed 
by  the  Government  troops  and  being  then  no  longer  able  to  live 
in  these  ports  they  withdrew  into  the  interior.  A little  later,  how- 
ever, they  asked  pardon  for  their  misdeeds  and  were  accordingly 
permitted  to  settle  themselves  anew  in  their  old  quarters.  Their 
stay  in  them  did  not  last  long,  for  shortly  before  1592  they  returned 
to  their  own  homes.  In  1599  King  Sunjo  had  some  interchange 
of  letters  with  the  Tsushima  barbarians  with  the  result  that  he 
invited  them  to  their  old  settlements,  where  he  built  houses  for  them, 
treated  them  with  kindness,  and  for  their  sakes  held  a market, 
lasting  for  five  days  from  the  3rd  of  every  month.  He  even 
permitted  the  market  to  be  held  more  frequently  when  they  had  a 
very  large  quantity  of  goods.”  ' 

There  is  some  historical  foundation  for  the  events 
here  alluded  to,  but  the  manner  in  which  the  com- 
mercial closing  of  the  settlement  during  its  military 
occupation  by  Hideyoshi’s  invading  armies  from  1592 
onwards  is  passed  over,  the  suggested  inference  that 
the  Japanese  obtained  as  suppliants  what  they  de- 
manded or  took  at  the  sword’s  point,  and  their 
description  as  “ barbarians  ” are  illustrations  of  the 
methods  of  pandering  to  their  own  vanity  which  the 
Koreans  had  learned  from  their  Chinese  suzerain. 

Before  the  Koreans  entered  on  the  long  period 
of  peace  which  left  them  undisturbed  in  their  national 
isolation  for  nearly  two  and  a half  centuries,  they 
had  to  exj)erience  once  more  the  humiliation  and 
suffering  of  foreign  invasion,  to  see  their  country, 
desolated  as  it  had  been  from  end  to  end  by  Hide- 
yoshi,  once  more  prostrate  at  the  feet  of  a foreign 
conqueror.  We  have  told  how,  in  turn,  Korea  found 
her  suzerain  in  the  Kin,  Mongol,  and  Ming  emperors 
of  China,  how  the  Kins  were  dethroned  by  the 
Mongols,  both  coming  from  the  northern  steppes  of 
Asia  and  both  aliens  to  the  Chinese,  and  how  the 
Mongols  were  in  turn  overthrown  by  the  Mings,  pure 
‘ Dallet,  “ Histoire  de  I’Eglise  de  Coree,”  vol.  i. 


CHOSEN— SECOND  PERIOD  201 


Chinese,  who  ruled  the  Empire  from  1368  to  1644. 
Then  the  Mings  were  overthrown  and  China  fell  under 
the  rule  of  the  Manchus,  people  of  the  same  stock 
as  the  Kins,  who  have  retained  possession  of  the 
Imperial  throne  till  this  day. 

The  origin  of  the  Manchus  is  wrapped  in  mythical 
romance.  Three  “heaven-born  virgins”  were  bathing 
in  a lake  which  lay  near  the  Ever  White  Mountains, 
the  northern  frontier  of  Korea,  when  a magpie  as  it 
flew  past  dropped  a blood-red  fruit,  which  the 
youngest  of  the  three  took  and  ate.  She  immediately 
conceived  and  bore  a son,  who,  when  his  mother 
died,  descended  the  River  Hurka  (a  tributary  of 
the  Sungari,  whose  source  is  in  the  White  Moun- 
tains) and  became  the  chief  of  the  local  tribes.  From 
him  and  his  tribesmen  the  Manchus  trace  their 
descent.  At  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century 
they  were  a formidable  power  controlling  the  whole 
of  Manchuria,  and  in  the  year  1616  they  were  strong 
enough  to  invade  Northern  China  and  to  defeat  the 
Imperial  Chinese  army  which  was  sent  against  them 
and  to  declare  themselves  independent.  A few  years 
later  they  established  their  capital  at  Mukden.  At 
this  period  China  was  once  more  rent  with  internal 
disturbances,  and  taking  advantage  of  them,  the 
Manchus  for  the  second  time  invaded  the  Empire 
and  captured  not  only  Peking  but  Nanking.  The 
last  Emperor  of  the  Mings,  driven  from  both  his 
northern  and  southern  capitals,  in  despair  drowned 
himself  in  the  Yang-Tsze,  and  in  1644  the  first  of 
the  Manchu  emperors  was  crowned  in  his  stead. 

Into  the  wars  that  preceded  this  event,  which  from 
first  to  last  spread  over  twenty-eight  years,  unhappy 
Korea  was  dragged  by  her  duty  to  her  suzerain. 
From  the  Mings  Korea  had  experienced  nothing  but 
kindness.  They  had  nobly  come  to  her  rescue  when 
she  was  beaten  to  her  knees  by  Japan,  and  it  was 


202 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


owing  to  their  help  that  the  invaders  had  been  forced 
to  evacuate  her  capital  and  retreat  in  haste  to  their 
fortified  lines  on  the  coast.  The  Mings,  when  their 
own  hour  of  trial  came,  in  their  turn  sought  Korea’s 
aid  in  their  struggle  against  the  Manchus,  and  not  in 
vain.  In  1619  twenty  thousand  Koreans  joined  the 
Chinese  army  and  along  with  it  suffered  a crushing 
defeat  by  the  Manchus.  This  loyalty  to  their  old 
suzerain  was  then  further  tested.  The  Manchu  victor 
sent  back  all  his  Korean  prisoners  and  deserters, 
saying  that  “as  of  old  the  Chinese  sent  assistance 
to  the  Koreans  it  was  very  natural  and  right  that 
the  Chinese  should  now  be  assisted  by  them,  and  that 
he  was  therefore  not  in  the  least  offended  by  their 
fidelity  to  their  allies.”  Korea  had  thus  an  oppor- 
tunity to  withdraw  with  honour  ; but  so  far  from  that, 
she  remained  firm  in  her  duty  to  the  Mings  and  did 
not  even  thank  the  Manchu  for  his  proffered  gener- 
osity. She  had  to  pay  dearly  for  her  fidelity. 

The  Manchus  could  not  leave  such  an  enemy  on 
their  flank  and  rear,  and  their  second  invasion  of 
China  was  preceded  by  one  of  Korea.  In  February, 
1627,  they  crossed  the  Yalu  on  the  ice  and  rapidly 
drove  the  Koreans  in  rout  before  them  the  whole  way 
from  the  frontier  to  the  capital.  Once  more,  as  his 
predecessor  had  done  in  1231  before  the  Mongols,  the 
King  fled  and  endeavoured  to  find  refuge  in  the  time- 
honoured  sanctuary  at  Kang  Wha.  Here  he  was  safe, 
for  the  Manchus  had,  no  more  than  the  Mongols,  the 
means  of  crossing  the  river,  but  he  made  overtures 
of  peace  which  were  accepted,  and  a treaty  was 
concluded  between  him  and  Manchu  envoys  on  the 
island.  “ At  the  ratification  a Avhite  horse  and  a 
black  ox  were  sacrificed,  and  a paper  with  the  treaty 
provisions  was  burnt  to  inform  Heaven  and  Earth.” 
By  this  treaty  Korea  recognised  the  Manchus  as  her 
future  suzerains.  The  two  people  were  henceforth 


CHOSEN— SECOND  PERIOD  203 


to  be  “ as  elder  and  younger  brothers,”  a relation- 
ship which,  according  to  the  Confucian  ethics,  in- 
volves, after  the  parent’s  death,  the  most  absolute 
control  of  the  younger  by  the  elder,  who  is  entitled 
to  dispose  or  utilise  as  he  will  the  property  and 
services,  even  the  life,  of  the  younger.  Korea  did 
not  keep  the  engagement  so  solemnly  ratified.  Her 
old  reverence  and  affection  for  the  Mings  were  still 
strong,  and  it  was  impossible  to  transfer  them  en 
bloc  to  the  new  power.  She  did  not  render  the  usual 
tribute,  and  what  she  did  send  she  called  a present 
instead  of  tribute  : she  refused  to  give  up  refugees 
in  her  territory,  and  absolutely  refused  to  co-operate 
in  any  invasion  of  China  ; her  envoy  to  the  Manchu 
Court  assumed  an  air  of  equality  with  the  Manchu 
leaders,  and  at  last  in  1636  the  Manchu  patience 
was  exhausted,  and  it  was  determined  to  bring  the 
recalcitrant  vassal  to  her  senses. 

Early  in  the  following  year  an  army  of  one  hundred 
thousand  men  once  again  entered  Korea  from  the 
north,  and  the  old,  old  story  was  repeated,  with  the  same 
harrowing  details  of  defeat,  slaughter,  and  plunder  of 
the  unhappy  country  and  its  people.  The  Court  was 
again  removed  to  Kang  Wha,  but  the  King  in  person 
maintained  a valiant  defence  of  his  capital.  He 
hoped  for  aid  from  China,  but  China’s  own  troubles 
were  enough  for  her  and  she  could  give  none.  Sallies 
from  the  beleaguered  city  and  relieving  forces  from 
the  south  and  west  of  Korea  were  alike  beaten  back 
by  the  invincible  Manchus  ; the  country  around  the 
city  was  devastated,  provisions  were  exhausted,  and 
famine  threatened  its  defenders  and  inhabitants  ; but 
the  courage  of  the  King  did  not  give  way  till  he  heard 
that  the  Manchus  had  taken  Kang  Wha  and  that  the 
Queen,  the  Crown  Prince,  and  all  the  ladies  of  the 
Royal  Family  and  the  Court,  as  well  as  the  wives 
of  many  of  the  principal  nobles,  were  in  their  hands. 


204 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


The  Manchus  had  obtained  the  use  of  boats,  and, 
once  on  the  island,  their  numbers  overwhelmed  its 
slender  garrison.  All  the  ladies  were  courteously 
treated  by  their  captors,  but  the  King  bent  his  head 
to  this  last  blow  and  humbly  sued  for  forgiveness 
and  peace.  Both  were  granted,  but  on  hard  terms. 
The  King  had,  not  only  to  formally  renounce  for 
ever  his  allegiance  to  his  former  suzerain  but  to 
promise  aid  against  him  in  war  ; to  render  faith- 
fully to  the  Manchus  the  loyalty  he  had  given  to 
the  Mings  ; to  pay  a heavy  tribute  ; to  promise  that 
he  would  build  no  fortresses  without  Manchu  per- 
mission ; and  finally  to  give  the  Cro\vn  Prince  as 
a hostage  for  the  faithful  observance  of  these 
obligations. 

The  crushed  King  accepted  these  conditions,  “ bow- 
ing to  the  ground.”  An  interview  with  the  victor 
followed.  The  King,  the  princes,  and  all  the 
ministers  were  received  in  a yellow  tent,  yellow  being 
the  Imperial  colour  in  China,  where  conqueror  and 
conquered  joined  in  worshipping  Heaven.  Then  the 
King  and  all  his  retinue  prostrated  themselves  on 
the  ground,  and  implored  pardon  for  their  crimes. 
This  was  the  last  of  his  humiliations.  WTien  it  was 
over  he  was  asked  to  seat  himself  on  the  left  hand  of 
the  Manchu  chief,  the  place  of  honour  according  to 
Eastern  ideas,  above  all  the  Manchu  princes. 

The  suzerainty  of  the  Manchus  proved  to  be  less 
severe  than  the  terms  of  peace  warranted.  Several 
years  elapsed  before  Korea  reconciled  herself  to  it, 
during  which  she  gave  several  causes  of  offence, 
but  all  her  hopes  of  a reversal  of  ill-fortune,  of  a 
return  to  her  old  friends  and  suzerains,  were  ended 
when,  in  1644,  the  Ming  dynasty  came  to  an  end 
on  the  death  of  the  last  of  the  race,  and  that  of 
the  Manchus  was  firmly  established  on  the  Imperial 
throne.  It  was  part  of  the  policy  of  the  Manchus 


CHOSEN— SECOND  PERIOD  205 


never  to  push  their  conquests  to  extremes,  and  when 
the  fighting  was  over  to  spare  the  vanquished  who 
yielded.  They  were  even  more  conciliatory  to  the 
Koreans  than  they  were  to  the  Chinese.  On  the  latter 
they  imposed  the  pigtail  and  the  Manchu  dress.  The 
Koreans  were  left  free  to  follow  their  hereditary 
customs.  No  cession  of  any  part  of  their  territory 
was  asked  for.  The  tribute  which  they  bound  them- 
selves to  render  was  reduced  again  and  again,  and 
little  more  was  exacted  than  a formal  annual  embassy 
to  Peking  and  the  proper  observance  by  it  of  the 
ceremonial  that  is  due  from  the  messengers  of  a 
vassal  to  his  suzerain.  On  the  other  hand,  when 
famine  threatened  or  visited  Korea,  as  it  often 
naturally  did  in  a country  dependent  solely  on  its 
own  harvests,  whose  laws  prevented  it  supplying  its 
deficiencies  from  foreign  markets,  large  gifts  of  rice 
were  freely  and  generously  sent  to  her  help  from 
China. 

From  the  year  in  which  the  Manchu  rule  was 
firmly  established  throughout  China,  Korea  wrapped 
herself  in  a mantle  of  isolation  from  all  the  world. 
She  had  acquired  through  China,  through  Japan,  and 
also  through  the  very  few  shipwrecked  Europeans 
who  had  fallen  into  her  hands,  a dim  knowledge 
that  there  were  other  countries  in  the  world,  but  they 
did  not  concern  her.  Only  her  two  immediate  neigh- 
bours, China  and  Japan,  were  definitely  known  to 
her,  and  from  both  she  had  throughout  almost  the 
whole  course  of  her  history  suffered  bitterly.  China 
had  been  her  friend  and  protector,  and  had  given  her 
the  literature  and  civilisation  which  she  had  acquired 
in  a high  degree.  But  it  had  been  also  a ruthless 
invader  who  time  and  time  again  had  ravaged  all 
her  northern  provinces,  and  even  when  driven  back 
in  defeat  had  left  ruin  and  desolation  behind.  From 
Japan  she  had  experienced  nothing  but  suffering. 


206 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


She  it  was  who  gave  to  Japan  the  religion,  laws, 
art,  science,  and  social  system  which  she  had  herself 
received  from  China,  and  which  were  the  foundation 
of  all  Japan’s  advanced  civilisation  for  more  than 
twelve  hundred  years,  and  she  might,  therefore,  have 
looked  to  Japan  for  a meed  of  the  respect  which 
she  rendered  to  China.  Instead  of  that  she  had  no 
memories  except  of  the  horrors  of  one  of  the  most 
cruel  and  unprovoked  invasions  that  the  history  of 
the  world  records,  and  of  ruthless  marauders  on  her 
coasts,  who  through  unbroken  centuries  had  made 
their  names  a terror  to  all  her  citizens. 

Korea  now  thought  that  her  only  safeguard  for 
the  future  was  to  maintain  as  little  intercourse  with 
both  China  and  Japan  as  was  compatible  with  the 
preservation  of  peace,  and  to  endeavour  to  persuade 
both  that  she  had  nothing  within  her  own  borders 
that  could  appeal  to  the  cupidity  of  either.  The 
Japanese  who  traded  with  her  were,  as  before  stated, 
rigidly  confined  within  the  limits  of  their  petty  factory 
at  Fusan.  On  her  northern  frontier  a strip  of  neutral 
territory  thirty  miles  in  width  was  deliberately  laid 
in  waste,  and  became  only  the  haunt  of  savage  wild 
beasts  and  of  still  more  savage  human  outlaws  and 
brigands,  so  that  none  could  pass  through  it  even 
along  the  great  high-road  which  led  all  the  way 
from  Seoul  to  Peking  unaccompanied  by  strong 
guards.  Three  times  every  year  a market  was  opened 
for  a few  days  at  the  Border  Gate,  close  to  the 
modern  city  of  Fung  Wang  Chang,  and  there  Korean 
and  Chinese  traders  met  and  exchanged  their  goods, 
the  Koreans  bartering  ginseng,  the  most  highly  prized 
drug  in  the  Chinese  pharmacopoeia,  furs,  paper, 
and  gold,  all  of  high  value  in  proportion  to  their 
weight  or  bulk,  and  therefore  capable  of  cheap  and 
easy  transport  by  land,  for  the  many  industrial  pro- 
ducts of  China  and,  as  years  went  on,  for  European 


PASS  OX  THE  PEKING  ROAD. 

(T roin  StiTJOfintph  CopyTight,  Viittcruvai  & Vndrni-ocd,  Lomion.) 


To  Jace  p,  206. 


CHOSEN— SECOND  PERIOD  207 


cottons  and  metal  manufactures  brought  from  the 
open  ports  of  China.  That  was  all  the  intercourse 
which  the  people  could  hold  with  their  continental 
neighbours  ; and  even  for  that  heavily  taxed  licences 
had  to  be  obtained,  and  woe  betide  the  returning 
Korean  who  could  not  exhibit  his  licence  at  the 
barriers  of  his  own  strictly  watched  frontier  town 
of  Aichin  I 

Once  every  year  a great  embassy  was  sent  to 
Peking  to  tender  the  duties  of  the  vassal  King  to 
his  suzerain  Emperor,  and  it  stayed  for  a month  in 
the  Manchu  capital.  The  Koreans  adhered  to  their 
dress  and  coiffure  of  the  Ming  period,  both  abolished 
in  China  by  the  Manchus,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Chinese  capital  used  to  see  at  each  Korean  visit  the 
same  garb  in  actual  use  as  had  been  worn  by  their 
forbears  of  several  generations  back.  It  was  as  if 
the  United  States  citizens  who  yearly  visit  England 
wore  the  dress  and  practised  the  gait  and  demeanour 
that  were  in  vogue  in  the  early  years  of  George  III. 
Once  every  year  a return  visit  was  made  to 
Seoul  by  a high  envoy  of  the  Chinese  Emperor, 
but  under  very  different  conditions.  The  Koreans 
during  their  stay  at  Peking  wandered  freely  through 
the  streets  and  saw  without  hindrance  all  that  they 
cared  to  see,  and  associated  freely  with  the  people. 
No  obstacle  was  placed  even  on  their  intercourse 
with  the  European  missionaries,  whose  influence  was 
destined  to  produce  important  results.  The  Chinese 
ambassador  was  met  by  the  King  in  person  outside 
the  city  gate,  and  every  possible  honour  that  could 
testify  the  most  profound  respect  was  rendered  to 
him  ; but  he  and  his  suite  only  remained  a few  days 
in  Seoul,  interned  the  whole  time  in  their  lodgings, 
and  every  means  was  taken  to  obscure  from  them 
such  wealth  and  resources  as  Korea  possessed. 

Korea’s  isolation  continued  unbroken  for  over  two 


208 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


hundred  and  thirty  years,  during  which  she  went  her 
own  way,  uninterfered  with  by  the  outside  world. 
Japan’s  period  of  isolation,  nearly  co-existent  with 
that  of  Korea,  was  equally  long  and  equally  rigid. 
But  during  it  Japan  was  strongly  and  ably  governed, 
her  people  enjoyed,  not  only  freedom  from  foreign 
aggression  but  internal  peace,  and  the  lower  orders 
of  her  people,  though  no  better  than  serfs  as  far  as 
the  enjoyment  went  of  political  rights  or  freedom, 
were  secure  in  their  property,  and  were  able  to  live 
lives  of  comfort  and  safety.  Her  Government,  firmly 
established  on  well-defined  principles,  was  adminis- 
tered by  capable  officials,  honest  according  to  their 
lights,  taken  from  a limited  and  highly  privileged  class 
but  chosen  from  that  class  for  their  capacity  and 
trustworthiness,  and  their  powers  and  authority  were 
circumscribed  within  limits  which  were  always  recog- 
nised and  could  only  be  crossed  at  infinite  peril  to 
the  life,  rank,  family,  and  property  of  their  violator. 
In  the  testament  in  which  the  great  founder  of  the 
Tokugawa  Shoguns  bequeathed  to  his  descendants 
the  principles  of  statecraft  by  which  he  directed  they 
should  be  guided,  he  told  them  that  “ the  People  are 
the  Foundation  of  the  Empire  ” and  that  they  were  to 
choose  as  their  ministers  “ true  men,”  not  those  ” who 
endeavour  to  win  favour  by  adulation,  flattery,  or 
bribery.”  These  directions  were  faithfully  observed. 
The  commons  of  Japan  enjoyed  happy  and  tranquil 
lives  of  such  security,  prosperity,  and  comfort,  that 
they  became  the  most  light-hearted  and  laughter- 
loving  people  on  earth,  full  of  the  joys  of  life,  in- 
dustrious, ingenious,  and  artistic,  and  the  whole 
Empire,  in  the  words  of  Kaempfer,  ‘‘  a school  of 
civility  and  good  manners,  in  which  the  happiness 
and  innocence  of  former  ages  were  revived.” 

In  Korea  everything  was  the  reverse  of  what  was 
seen  in  Japan.  Between  1644  and  1876  twelve  kings 


CHOSEN— SECOND  PERIOD  209 


successively  sat  on  the  throne,  all  of  the  line  of  Taijo. 
Among  these  were  some  strong  and  capable  rulers 
who  instituted  important  reforms  intended  particu- 
larly for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the 
lower  classes  of  their  people.  Hijo  Jung  (1649- 
59),  during  whose  reign  Hamel  and  his  comrades 
were  shipwrecked  and  held  as  prisoners  in  Korea, 
abolished  the  punishment  of  beating  criminals  to 
death,  lightened  taxation,  and  renovated  the  military 
system.  He  also  distinguished  himself  as  a dress 
reformer,  and  the  Korean  Court  dress  continued  to 
the  reign  of  the  last  of  the  kings  to  conform  to 
his  designs.  His  successor,  Hyong  Jong  (1660-74) 
came  to  the  throne  as  a boy,  but  he  followed  in  his 
father’s  steps  as  a reformer,  aided  and  advised  in 
all  he  did  by  a powerful  Prime  Minister  who  served 
him  throughout  his  reign.  Some  of  the  heaviest 
burdens  of  taxation  were  remitted,  and  the  King 
curtailed  his  own  personal  expenditure  to  meet  the 
deficiencies  in  the  royal  revenue.  Men  were  for- 
bidden by  him  to  desert  their  families  in  order  to 
become  Buddhist  priests  so  that  they  might  pass 
their  lives  in  the  ease  and  licence  that  were  associated 
with  the  monasteries,  and  the  practice  was  also  for- 
bidden of  taking  girls  by  force  to  be  used  as  palace 
women,  not  necessarily  as  concubines,  but  as  ladies 
or  servants  of  the  Court,  a position  in  which  perpetual 
chastity  was  a rigid  rule.  Much  was  done  by  him 
to  spread  education  in  the  districts  of  the  Kingdom 
remote  from  the  capital,  which  his  predecessors  had 
neglected,  and  generally  every  department  of  the 
State,  every  condition  of  social  life,  felt  the  benefit 
of  his  reforming  hand. 

Yung  Jong  (1724-6)  was  another  King  distin- 
guished in  Korean  history  for  the  series  of  reforms 
effected  during  his  long  reign,  prominent  among  them 
being  the  measures  which  he  took  for  the  enforcement 

14 


210 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


of  temperance.  He  is  perhaps  the  sole  instance  in  all 
the  history  of  the  world  of  a monarch  or  even  of  a 
legislator  who  absolutely  prohibited  the  manufacture, 
sale,  or  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  who  in  his 
ardour  as  a temperance  reformer  made  the  violation 
of  his  prohibition  a capital  offence  and  took  care 
to  secure  that  the  law  was  no  dead  letter.  When  a 
high  provincial  official  was  found  transgressing  in  his 
own  district  far  away  from  the  capital,  where  no  doubt 
he  thought  he  would  be  safe  from  discovery,  the 
King  not  only  ordered  him  to  be  executed  but  went 
in  person  to  see  the  sentence  carried  out.  Compulsory 
temperance  only  continued  during  the  life  of  the 
King,  which  was,  however,  a long  one.  A similar 
revulsion  to  that  which  England  witnessed  when  the 
Restoration  put  an  end  to  the  rigid  austerity  of  puri- 
tanical legislation  took  place  in  Korea,  and  there  are 
no  harder  or  more  constant  drinkers  in  the  world 
than  the  Koreans.  The  vice  is  common  to  all  classes. 
It  is  the  greatest  happiness  that  can  fall  to  the 
commoner  to  drown  his  cares  in  the  forgetfulness  of 
intoxication,  and  when  he  is  able  to  do  so  he  is  the 
envy  of  his  neighbours.  Drunkenness  is  no  more 
a discredit  to  the  nobles  than  it  was  to  the  English 
country  squire  in  the  days  of  George  II.,  and  among 
the  present-day  imports  from  Japan  no  unsubstantial 
place  is  taken  by  French  brandy,  Scotch  whisky, 
Russian  Vodka,  and  Dutch  gin,  all  in  splendidly  be- 
labelled  bottles  with  gilded  capsules,  the  industrial 
output  of  Osaka  and  Nagasaki,  which  are  retailed, 
with  a handsome  commercial  profit,  at  one  shilling 
per  bottle. 

The  great  merit  which  clings  to  this  King’s  name 
is  the  revolution  which  he  made  in  the  social  system 
of  the  nation  by  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs.  Until 
his  reign  Korean  society  was  composed  of  only  two 
classes,  nobles  (Yang  ban)  and  serfs.  WTioever  was 


CHOSEN— SECOND  PERIOD  211 


not  a noble  was  the  bond  serf  of  a noble,  bound 
to  the  soil,  and  liable  even  to  be  sold  along  with  his 
family  at  his  liege  lord’s  pleasure.  All  the  serfs 
were  enfranchised  with  personal  freedom  by  the 
King.  It  is  sad  to  say  that  the  apostle  of  temperance 
and  liberty  became  in  his  old  age,  altogether  without 
cause,  jealous  and  suspicious  of  his  son  and  heir, 
and  left  a blot  on  his  otherwise  fair  name  by  the 
cruel  murder  of  his  son,  who  was  shut  in  a chest 
and  slowly  starved  to  death. 

The  kings  that  have  been  mentioned  were  the 
good  kings  of  the  line  since  1644.  All  of  them, 
whatever  their  merits,  had  the  vices  of  cruelty  as 
judged  by  present-day  standards,  and  the  instance 
that  has  just  been  given  was  only  horrible  in  the 
eyes  of  Koreans  from  the  fact  that  the  sufferer  was 
the  King’s  own  son  and  the  recognised  heir-apparent 
to  the  throne.  The  greatest  virtues  of  all  of  them 
were  the  thought  they  gave  to  the  welfare  of  the 
common  people  and  the  cessation  which  they 
enforced,  during  their  reigns,  of  party  strife  at  their 
courts.  In  each  case  one  of  the  great  parties  re- 
mained in  power  throughout  nearly  the  whole  reign, 
and  the  others,  when  they  attempted  to  assert  them- 
selves, to  overthrow  their  opponents  in  office,  had 
to  pay  a bitter  reckoning.  Their  leaders  and 
members  were  executed,  murdered,  banished,  or  fined 
without  mercy.  The  kings  whose  names  have  not 
been  given,  weak,  indolent,  indulgent,  and  debauched, 
were  worthy  of  the  description,  taken  from  the  writings 
of  the  F rench  priests,  that  has  been  given  in  a previous 
chapter.  Some  of  them  came  to  the  throne  as  boys 
and  were  under  the  tutorship  of  their  mothers  or 
grandmothers,  who  held  the  regency  during  the  Kings’ 
minorities.  However  weak  the  character  of  Korean 
women  in  general  may  have  been  rendered  by  their 
moral  subjection,  however  insignificant  a factor  they 


212 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


have  become  in  all  social  life,  some  of  those  who 
have  been  on  or  near  the  throne  have  shown  them- 
selves very  strong  and  determined  women,  capable 
of  using  to  the  utmost  at  their  own  will  the  powers 
with  which  they  were  vested.  Two  of  the  female 
regents  are  mainly  responsible  for  the  merciless 
persecutions  of  the  Christians,  and  in  our  own  day,  in 
the  chequered  reign  of  the  last  of  the  kings  who  can 
be  said  to  have  governed,  two  ladies  played,  as  will 
be  seen  hereafter,  a great  part  on  the  political  stage. 

Neither  female  regent  nor  weak  kings  were  able 
to  check  the  political  strife  which  was  the  curse 
of  the  nation.  Both  alike  were  subject  to  the  latest 
partisan  favourites  or  councillors  to  catch  their  ears, 
and  these  used  their  influence  with  king  or  regent 
solely  for  the  advancement  and  enrichment  of  them- 
selves and  their  relatives.  The  Court  was  a maelstrom 
of  intrigue,  in  which  bribery,  false  accusations, 
assassination,  and  conspiracy  were  the  only  weapons 
used  by  either  party.  There  were  no  foreign  politics, 
no  platform  on  which  all  could  unite  in  the  common 
interest,  and  the  hatred  which  in  other  parts  of  the 
world  was  exhausted  on  foreign  foes  had  in  Korea 
to  find  its  only  outlet  on  domestic  rivals.  Patriotism 
was  never  thought  of  ; and  so  deeply  had  the  canker 
eaten  into  the  body  politic  that  even  when,  in  our 
own  time,  Korea  was  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
world  and  her  national  existence  threatened  by  Russia 
on  the  one  side  and  Japan  on  the  other,  foreign  policy 
was  only  a new  weapon  for  use  in  domestic  party 
strife,  and  it  is  to  this  party  strife  that  the  ultimate 
national  downfall  was  mainly  due. 

Amidst  it  all  the  people  had  no  place.  To  the  eyes 
of  the  nobles  they  were  as  negro  slaves  to  the  old 
Virginian  planter,  as  Celtic  peasants  to  the  Protestant 
garrison  of  Ireland  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
centuries.  They  counted  for  nothing : they  were 


TOMB  NKAK  SEOCL. 

(From  Skwgrnf<h  Cofyright,  I'tuUrwootl  S'  C'litUru’L'oJ,  Lomton.) 


To  face  p.  212. 


CHOSEN— SECOND  PERIOD  213 


hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,  whose  spolia- 
tion was  a prize  for  which  rival  parties  strove,  and  the 
victors  ruthlessly,  pitilessly,  barbarously  extorted 
from  them,  to  the  least  fraction,  what  were  the  only 
spoils  of  office,  not  sparing  them  even  when,  as  often 
happened,  famine  and  its  attendant,  cholera,  were 
spreading  desolation  and  death  far  and  wide.  Under 
such  government  it  was  inevitable  that  the  people 
should  become  what  they  have  been  described  in  a 
previous  chapter — the  most  miserable,  hopeless, 
apathetic  on  earth.  With  a people  whose  lives  were 
cast  in  squalid  poverty  on  which  no  ray  of  brightness 
ever  fell,  from  which  there  was  no  possible  avenue 
of  escape,  and  a nobility  all  whose  energy  and  thought 
were  exhausted  on  party  strife,  the  country  could 
make  no  progress  in  art,  science,  or  industry  ; and 
the  civilisation  of  Korea  showed  no  material  advance 
in  1876,  when  Japan  forced  the  first  treaty  on  her, 
on  what  she  had  been  when  Hideyoshi’s  armies  were 
withdrawn  nearly  three  hundred  years  previously. 

In  1864  the  twenty-ninth  King  of  the  dynasty, 
one  of  the  weakest  of  the  whole  line,  died  childless, 
without  having  exercised  his  prerogative  of  nominat- 
ing an  heir.  The  Queen-Dowager,  the  widow  of  a 
former  king,  took  the  duty  upon  herself,  and  having 
wrested  by  actual  physical  strength  the  Royal  Seal 
from  the  widow  of  the  late  King,  while  his  body 
was  still  warm,  and  thus  fortified  herself  with  the 
symbol  of  royal  authority,  she  nominated  to  the  throne 
a boy  of  twelve  years  of  age,  whose  father,  one  of  the 
royal  princes,  was  the  grandson  of  King  Sunjo 
(1800-34).  The  father  had  hitherto  been  a 
nonentity  in  the  Court  ; and  with  a boy  King  and 
an  indifferent  father  the  old  Queen  contemplated 
for  herself  a long  regency.  But  no  sooner  was  his  son 
safe  on  the  throne  than  the  father  at  once  showed 
himself  in  an  entirely  new  light.  The  Queen  was 


214 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


ousted,  and  thenceforward  the  Court  idler  became  a 
determined  statesman,  assumed  the  regency,  and  was 
for  nine  years  the  most  prominent  figure  in  the 
administrative  life  of  the  kingdom  and  till  his  death, 
in  1898,  he  was  the  most  prominent  factor  in 
political  life.  He  is  known  as  the  Tai  Won  Kun, 
(“  the  Lord  of  the  Great  Court  ”),  and  his  son  was  the 
last  de  facto  King  of  Korea,  who  reigned  until  his 
abdication,  in  1907.  The  French  missionaries  de- 
scribed him,  in  the  early  years  of  his  regency,  as 
brusque,  self-willed,  and  passionate,  weak  in  body, 
but  with  a strong  constitution,  with  fierce  eyes  that 
rolled  incessantly  in  their  sockets.  In  after  years  he 
showed  himself  cruel  and  vindictive,  always  restless 
and  ambitious,  unscrupulous  in  all  his  methods,  and 
prepared  to  clear  the  way  for  the  gratification  of  his 
ambition  by  murder  and  conspiracy. 

While  still  a boy — two  years  after  his  accession  to 
the  throne — the  King  was  married  to  a bride  chosen 
for  him  by  his  father,  a lady  of  the  Min  family,  one  of 
the  oldest  in  the  Korean  nobility.  The  Tai  Won  Kun 
anticipated  that  the  lady,  if  she  took  any  part  at  all  in 
politics,  would  from  gratitude,  if  for  no  other  reason, 
be  devoted  to  his  interests.  His  anticipations  were 
quickly  falsified.  The  lady  was  devoted,  not  to  the 
Regent,  to  whom  she  owed  her  throne,  but  to  the  family 
from  which  she  sprang,  and  the  great  influence  which 
she  acquired  on  the  King  was,  throughout  her  life, 
used  unsparingly  for  their  advancement.  She  was  a 
woman  of  great  intelligence,  of  strong  character,  well 
read  in  Chinese  literature,  intimately  acquainted  wdth 
the  history  of  her  own  country,  and  in  after  years 
her  intellectual  capacity  enabled  her  to  acquire  a 
grasp  of  foreign  affairs  which,  together  with  her 
marked  conversational  powers,  aroused  the  admira- 
tion of  Count  Inouye,*  the  veteran  statesman  of  Japan. 

* Now  Marquis  Inouye. 


CHOSEN— SECOND  PERIOD  215 


She  was  slight  of  stature  ; but  her  diminutive  body 
contained  a great,  courageous  heart,  and  bright, 
sparkling  eyes  reflected  the  brilliant  intellect  that 
was  behind  them.  She  soon  incurred  the  bitter  hatred 
of  the  Regent.  Spurred  by  her  influence,  the  King 
assumed  the  full  exercise  of  his  own  prerogatives  and 
the  administration  of  the  kingdom  in  1873,  and  the 
Tai  Won  Kun  was  forced  to  retire  from  office.  The 
Queen’s  brother  was  appointed  Chief  Minister,  and 
the  Tai  Won  Kun  promptly  caused  him,  his  mother, 
and  his  son  to  be  murdered  by  a bomb.  Twice  his 
hatred  for  the  Queen  induced  him  to  encourage  con- 
spiracies against  the  King,  his  own  son.  Twice  he 
instigated  attempts  on  the  life  of  the  Queen,  the  last 
of  which  was  successful.  Until  1873  he  governed 
as  an  absolute  ruler.  Always  a bigoted  and  intolerant 
Conservative,  he  was  bitterly  opposed  to  even  a 
semblance  of  relationship  with  Europeans,  and  it  was 
under  him  that  French  and  United  States  fleets  were 
driven  back  when  they  attempted  to  enter  into  rela- 
tions with  the  Government.  Cruelty,  that  knew  no 
mercy,  was  his  second  nature,  and  it  was  by  his  orders 
that  the  third  Christian  persecution  was  instituted  and 
carried  to  its  bitter  end.  These  occurrences  are  des- 
cribed in  subsequent  chapters.  The  story  of  the 
King’s  reign  is  that  of  contemporary  Korea,  no  longer 
isolated  from  the  world,  the  pivot  for  forty  years 
of  all  the  international  policy  of  the  Far  East. 


CHAPTER  XI 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS 

After  the  storming  of  the  city  of  Chin-ju  that  is 
described  in  a previous  chapter,*  when  it  seemed 
probable  that  the  embassies  sent  to  Japan  by  the 
Emperor  of  China  might  succeed  in  concluding  a 
lasting  peace,  Hideyoshi  withdrew  from  Korea  the 
greater  part  of  his  army  which  had  served  throughout 
the  campaign,  leaving  only  the  division  commanded 
by  Konishi  to  maintain  the  fortified  camps  around 
Fusan.  Both  Konishi  and  nearly  all  his  men  were, 
as  before  stated,  devout  Christians.  They  were  the 
first  of  the  invaders  to  land  in  Korea  ; they  were  in 
the  van  and  bore  the  brunt  of  the  fighting  throughout 
the  whole  campaign  : they  were  the  troops  who  had 
suffered  most  severely  from  the  privations  of  cold 
and  hunger  and  the  heaviest  losses  in  battle,  and 
they  had  therefore  merited  exceptional  consideration 
from  Hideyoshi.  There  was  apparently  no  more 
glory  to  be  won,  and  the  excitement  of  a hard-fought 
campaign  was  to  be  replaced  by  the  monotonous 
routine  of  garrison  duties  in  time  of  peace.  Konishi’s 
division  was  entitled  by  all  its  services  and  merits 
to  be  spared  from  these  duties,  to  be  among  the  first 
who  were  allowed  to  return  to  the  homes  for  which 
all  the  men  were  longing.  Political  considerations 
decreed  otherwise.  Hideyoshi  still  wished  to  keep 
the  Christian  soldiers  at  a distance  from  Japan,  and 

‘ Vide  p.177. 

216 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  217 


the  whole  of  Konishi’s  division  was  therefore  detained 
in  Korea.  As  a sop  to  the  sense  of  injustice  and 
ingratitude  which  this  measure  provoked  among  men 
who  felt  they  had  deserved  better  things,  they  were 
permitted  to  have  the  ministrations  of  one  of  thq 
European  priests  from  the  Jesuit  mission  in  Japan  ; 
and  Father  Gregorio  de  Cespedes,  together  with  an 
ordained  Japanese  priest,  therefore  proceeded  to 
Fusan  early  in  the  year  1594,  and  remained  in 
Southern  Korea  for  over  a year,  not  only  ministering 
to  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  Japanese  soldiers  but  to 
defeated  foes,  both  on  the  battlefield  and  when 
prisoners  of  war.  Hideyoshi  was  at  this  time  be- 
coming more  and  more  suspicious  of  the  motives 
of  Christianity  and  its  European  ministers.  Kato, 
the  enemy  of  Christianity  and  rival  of  Konishi,  was 
in  Japan  and  had  his  ear,  and  was  only  too  reajdy 
to  warn  him  of  the  dangers  of  encouraging  the 
fanatical  zeal  of  the  soldier  converts,  even  in  Korea, 
and  to  stimulate  his  suspicions  that  the  missionary 
propagandism  was  only  a means  to  the  acquisition 
of  temporal  power.  Konishi  found  his  position  in 
Korea  so  insecure  that  he  was  obliged  in  prudence  to 
send  Cespedes  back  to  Japan,  and  as  the  active 
persecution  of  Christians  in  Japan  commenced  soon 
afterwards,  he  was  not  able  to  replace  him  by, 
another  priest  or  priests  during  the  remaining  stages 
of  the  war. 

Father  Cespedes  was  the  first  European  of  whom 
we  possess  authentic  information  as  having  landed 
in  Korea.  Nearly  two  hundred  years  were  destined 
to  elapse  before  another  missionary  of  his  faith 
entered  Korea,  during  the  whole  of  which  period  the 
coimtry  was  hermetically  closed  against  foreign  inter- 
course. Its  shores  were  occasionally  visited  by  the 
exploring  cruisers  of  European  naval  powers,  but 
none  of  their  officers  or  crews  were  ever  allowed  to 


218 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


do  more  than  make  a brief  landing  of  a few  hours’ 
duration  on  the  beach,  and  that  only  while  they  were 
under  the  protection  of  their  own  guns.  Throughout 
the  whole  period  the  only  Europeans  of  whom  we 
have  any  record  that  were  admitted  to  the  interior 
were  a few  shipwrecked  Dutch  sailors,  cast  away 
on  the  inhospitable  coast  while  on  their  voyage  from 
Holland  to  the  Dutch  Trading  Factory  at  Nagasaki, 
one  of  whom  has  left  to  us  a vivid  description  both 
of  his  personal  experiences  while  a captive  and  also 
of  the  customs,  religion,  and  institutions  of  the 
country,  the  truth  of  which,  much  though  it  was 
doubted  at  the  time  at  which  it  was  first  published, 
has  since  been  amply  confirmed  by  more  learned 
writers  and  scientific  observers. 

On  January  lo,  1653,  the  Dutch  ship  Sparrow- 
'fiawk  sailed  from  Texel  for  Nagasaki.  On 
June  I St  she  arrived  at  Batavia,  where  she  re- 
mained for  fourteen  days,  and  then  sailed  for  Taiwan 
(Formosa),  where  she  arrived  on  July  1 6th, 
and  remained  for  another  fortnight.  On  the  30th 
she  started  on  the  last  stage  of  her  long  voyage.  The 
late  summer  is  the  worst  period  of  the  year  in  the 
Southern  China  seas — that  at  which  the  dreaded 
typhoons  may  be  expected  to  appear  in  their  utmost 
violence — and  it  was  the  ill-fortune  of  the  Sparrow- 
hawk  to  find  them  at  their  very  worst  from  the  day 
on  which  she  sailed  from  Taiwan.  She  met  wdth 
a continued  succession  of  violent  gales,  was  driven 
out  of  her  course,  and  after  having  been  buffeted  by 
waves  and  winds  for  a formight,  at  last  found  herself, 
with  her  masts  gone,  helpless  on  a lee  shore,  on 
August  1 6th.  The  master  commended  the  crew 
to  their  prayers,  all  hope  being  gone.  The  ship 
soon  struck,  and  in  the  hea\^  sea  at  once  went  to 
pieces,  and  out  of  her  total  complement  of  sixty-six 
men,  only  thirty-six  succeeded  in  reaching  the  shore, 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  219 


most  of  them  more  or  less  dangerously  hurt.  Among 
the  survivors  was  Hendrick  Hamel,  the  supercargo, 
to  whom  we  owe  the  record  of  their  sufferings  and 
long  exile. 

It  was  on  the  island  of  Quelpart  that  the  wreck 
took  place.  The  survivors  were  kindly  treated  by 
the  natives,  though  at  first  a great  iron  chain  with 
a bell  was  put  round  the  neck  of  each^  and  the 
wreckage  was  all  plundered,  the  timbers  being  burnt 
for  the  sake  of  the  iron  nails  which  fastened  them 
together.  The  plunderers  were,  however,  punished 
by  the  Governor,  each  receiving  thirty  or  forty  strokes 
on  the  soles  of  the  feet  with  a cudgel,  six  feet  long 
and  as  thick  as  a man’s  arm,  the  beating  being  so 
severe  that  the  toes  dropped  off  some  of  the  feet  ; 
and  the  shipwrecked  sailors  were  fed  and  lodged, 
such  care  being  taken  of  the  sick  that  they  were 
“ better  treated  by  that  idolater  than  they  should 
have  been  among  Christians.”  On  October  29th, 
when  they  had  been  on  the  island  for  two 
and  a half  months,  they  were  one  day  summoned 
to  the  Governor’s  office,  where  they  found  a man 
with  a great  red  beard,  who  proved  to  be  a fellow- 
countryman  of  their  own.  He  had  been  for  twenty- 
seven  years  an  exile  in  Korea.  Like  themselves, 
he  had  sailed  from  Holland  in  one  of  the  Dutch 
Company’s  ships  for  Nagasaki,  and  when  at  the  very 
end  of  his  long  voyage,  when  his  ship  was  off  the 
Korean  coast,  he  and  some  others  had  landed  to 
obtain  water,  and  three  of  them  were  taken  prisoners 
by  the  natives.  Their  ship  sailed  away,  leaving  them 
to  their  fate  ; and  though  Nagasaki  and  the  Dutch 
factory  were  distant  only  a few  days’  sail  ; though 
every  year  seven  or  eight  Dutch  ships  arrived  there 
any  one  of  which  might  easily  have  called  off  Fusan 
either  on  her  homeward  or  outward  voyage  ; though 
communications  were  regularly  interchanged  between 


220 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


the  Japanese  and  Koreans  at  Tsushima  and  Fusan, 
and  the  officials  of  the  Dutch  factory  knew  that  a 
Korean  embassy  came  to  Yedo  (Tokio)  every  year 
with  unfailing  punctuality,  no  attempt  seems  ever 
to  have  been  made  by  their  countrymen  to  use  these 
means  as  to  inquiring  after  their  fate.  Two  of  the 
castaways  served  as  soldiers  with  the  Korean  army  in 
the  Manchu  War  in  1635  ^ ^^d  were  killed  in  battle. 
The  survivor,  whose  name  was  John  Wetteree,  was 
afterwards  kept  in  an  honourable  captivity  at  Seoul, 
and  it  was  he  who  now  appeared  to  interrogate  his 
shipwrecked  countrymen,  sent  specially  for  that 
purpose  from  the  Court  at  Seoul,  to  which  the  presence 
of  the  foreigners  on  Korean  soil  had  been  duly  re- 
ported by  the  officials  at  Quelpart.  He  had  almost 
completely  forgotten  his  owm  language,  of  which  he 
had  not  the  opportunity  of  using  a single  word  in 
the  eighteen  years  which  had  passed  since  the  death 
of  his  fellow-captives.  At  first  it  was  difficult  to 
understand  him,  and  it  was  not  until  after  a month’s 
association  with  the  sailors  that  he  recovered  enough 
of  the  language  to  be  able  to  converse  with  any 
fluency.  He  was  now  fifty-nine  years  of  age,  and 
had  been  in  hopeless  exile  for  twenty -seven  years. 
It  was  the  custom  of  the  country,  he  told  them, 
to  detain  all  strangers  found  within  its  limits,  and, 
though  they  would  be  provided  with  food  and  cloth- 
ing, “ they  must  never  expect  to  leave  it  unless  they 
got  wings  to  fly.” 

They  were  all  detained  in  the  island  till  May  of 
the  following  year.  During  their  stay  a change  of 
Governors  took  place,  much  to  the  detriment  of  the 
unhappy  captives,  for  they  were  worse  fed  and  more 
strictly  watched,  and  while  their  sufferings  became 
greater  the  prospect  of  being  brought,  as  they  had 
been  promised,  to  the  capital  of  the  country  seemed 
' Vide  p.  202. 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  221 


to  become  more  remote.  In  their  impatience  six 
of  them  made  a desperate  attempt  to  escape  in  a 
small  boat  without  either  provisions  or  water,  hoping 
to  reach  Japan,  but  they  had  scarcely  started  when 
they  were  caught  and  brought  back.  They  were  then 
chained  to  a great  log,  and  each  received  twenty-five 
strokes  “ on  the  bare  buttocks  from  a cudgel  a fathom 
long,  four  fingers  broad,  and  an  inch  thick,  being 
flat  on  the  side  that  strikes  and  round  on  the  other. 
These  strokes  were  so  unmercifully  laid  on  that 
the  sufferers  were  forced  to  keep  their  beds  for  a 
month,  and  though  the  rest  were  unbound  yet 
they  were  confined  and  strictly  guarded  day  and 
night.”  After  that  lesson  there  were  no  more  attempts 
to  escape. 

At  last  in  May  orders  came  to  carry  them  to  the 
Court.  The  distance  from  Quelpart  to  the  mainland 
is  only  thirty-five  miles,  yet  the  crossing  was  full 
of  peril  and  discomfort.  On  the  first  attempt  after 
struggling  with  contrary  winds,  they  were  obliged 
to  put  back,  but  the  second  attempt  was  successful, 
though  they  were  twenty-four  hours  in  the  boats, 
and  all  were  scattered  and  landed  at  different  places. 
During  the  passage  their  feet  were  fettered  and  one 
hand  was  made  fast  to  a block  to  prevent  their 
attempting  to  escape,  which  otherwise  they  might 
easily  have  done,  for  all  the  soldiers  guarding  them 
were  seasick.  On  their  way  from  their  landing- 
place  to  the  capital  one  of  their  number  died,  but 
the  rest  performed  the  long  journey  without  mishap, 
and  as  soon  as  they  arrived  they  were  brought  before 
the  King.  “ They  humbly  beseeched  his  Majesty  to 
send  them  to  Japan,  so  that  they  might  one  iday 
return  thence  to  their  homes,”  but  it  was  only  to 
find  that  all  that  Wetteree  had  told  them  was  con- 
firmed. “ It  was  not  the  custom  of  Korea  to  suffer 
strangers  to  depart.”  They  were,  in  fact,  at  once 


222 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


adopted  as  Korean  subjects,  dressed  as  Koreans,  en- 
rolled among  the  King’s  life-guards,  and  armed,  and 
thenceforward  for  a time  their  lives  were  those  of 
ordinary  privates  in  the  ranks,  with  the  same  drills 
and  marchings  as  the  Korean  soldier.  In  one  respect 
they  had  similar  experiences  to  their  countrymen  of 
high  rank  in  Japan.  Kaempfer,  the  Dutch  historian 
of  Japan,  tells  of  how  when  the  annual  mission  of 
the  factory  took  place  to  the  Court  of  the  Shogun 
at  Yedo  the  Governor  of  the  factory  and  its  high 
officers,  Kaempfer  himself,  the  learned  physician  and 
philosopher,  included,  were  forced  to  dance,  sing, 
make  love,  kiss,  and  exhibit  numerous  other  buffoon- 
eries for  the  amusement  of  the  Shogun’s  courtiers, 
especially  the  ladies  of  the  Court.  What  the  grave 
and  learned  officials  of  high  rank  had  to  do  at  Yedo 
the  poor  castaways  had  to  do  at  Seoul.  They  were 
ordered  to  sing,  dance,  and  leap,  to  exercise  and 
shoot  after  the  Dutch  manner.  “ Above  all,  the  wives 
and  children  of  the  nobles  were  eager  to  view  them, 
because  the  common  people  of  Quelpart  had  spread 
a report  that  they  were  a monstrous  race,  and  when 
they  drank  were  obliged  to  tuck  up  their  noses 
behind  their  ears.  But  they  were  amazed  to  see 
them  better  shaped  than  their  own  countrymen,  and 
above  all  they  admired  the  fairness  of  their  com- 
plexion.” 

We  cannot  follow  the  poor  Dutchmen  through  all 
the  details  of  their  long  captivity.  They  were  full  of 
suffering,  want,  and  hard,  unrequited  labour,  and 
on  more  than  one  occasion  all  the  captives  were 
threatened  with  death.  They  had  some  hopes  of 
making  their  condition  kno\\m  through  the  Chinese 
ambassador,  who  came  each  year  from  Peking  to 
receive  the  homage  of  the  King.  They  were  for- 
bidden to  attempt  to  communicate  with  him,  and 
confined  within  doors  during  his  stay  at  Seoul  so 


AUDIENCE-HALI,  IN  I’ALACE  GROUNDS. 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  223 


that  they  should  not  be  seen  by  him  ; but  on  one 
occasion,  in  March,  1655,  two  of  them  hid  outside 
the  city  on  the  day  on  which  the  ambassador  set 
out  on  his  return  journey,  and  when  he  appeared  at 
the  head  of  his  troops  they  laid  hold  of  his  horse’s 
reins  with  one  hand  and  with  the  other  turned  aside 
their  Korean  habit  to  let  him  see  they  were  clad  after 
the  Dutch  manner  underneath.  The  only  result  was 
that  the  two  were  put  in  prison  and  never  seen  or 
heard  of  again  by  their  countrymen,  and  the  rest 
were  subsequently  banished  from  the  capital  to  the 
province  of  “ Thillado  ” (Cholla). 

Their  treatment  in  their  new  quarters  varied  under 
the  different  Governors  of  the  province.  Sometimes 
it  was  kind  : at  others  they  were  put  to  the  roughest 
manual  labour,  carrying  firewood  from  the  moun- 
tains and  weeding  grass,  insufficiently  fed  and  still 
more  insufficiently  clothed,  so  that  they  suffered  keenly 
from  the  winter  cold.  Throughout  all  the  year  1662 
there  was  a great  famine.  Acorns,  pineapples,  and 
other  wild  fruits  were  the  only  food  of  the  people, 
abundance  of  whom  died  of  want.  The  Dutchmen, 
reduced  by  death  to  twenty-two  in  number,  were 
then  distributed  in  different  towns,  it  being  impossible 
to  support  them  all  in  one.  Hamel  and  four  com- 
panions were  sent  to  a town  on  the  south-east  coast. 
Here  they  remained  five  years,  all  the  time  giving 
their  best  thoughts,  whether  well  or  ill  treated,  to 
planning  the  means  of  escape  to  Japan.  At  last  they 
got  their  chance.  Desperate  under  the  increased 
tyranny  of  a new  Governor,  they  obtained,  through 
the  assistance  of  a Korean  whom  they  had  been  able 
to  befriend,  a boat,  on  the  pretence  that  they  wanted 
to  go  to  the  neighbouring  isles  to  buy  cotton  ; three 
of  their  comrades  from  another  district  were  able  to 
join  them,  and  on  September  4,  1 667,  as  the  moon 
in  its  first  quarter  was  setting,  they  crept  along  the 


224 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


city  wall,  unperceived  by  anybody,  carrying  with  them 
their  scanty  accumulation  of  provisions,  rice,  pots 
of  water,  and  a frying-pan.  They  embarked  and 
crept  out  of  the  harbour  without  discovery,  and,  with- 
out a compass,  scantily  provisioned,  knowing  only 
that  Japan  lay  somewhere  to  the  east,  they  committed 
themselves  in  a frail  open  boat  to  the  seas  of  whose 
storms  they  had  had  such  bitter  experience  prior  to 
their  shipwreck  almost  at  the  same  season  of  the  year, 
of  whose  dangers  they  must  have  learned  much  more 
during  their  captivity.  Fortune  favoured  them  this 
time.  After  having  been  at  sea  for  eight  days  they 
succeeded  in  reaching  the  Goto  Islands,  where  they 
were  taken  in  charge  by  the  Japanese  and  brought  to 
Nagasaki.  There  they  found  their  own  country- 
men and  the  ships  of  the  Company  in  whose  service 
they  had  originally  sailed.  Passages  were  provided 
for  them  in  the  first  ship  to  leave  for  home,  and  on 
July  20,  1668,  they  reached  Amsterdam — all  Enoch 
Ardens  who  had  been  mourned  as  dead  for  fifteen 
years . 

Hamel  does  not  tell  in  his  narrative  whether  at 
the  time  of  his  escape  Wetteree  was  still  alive.  He 
knew,  however,  that  thirteen  survivors  of  the  ship- 
wrecked crew  of  the  Sparrowhawk  were  still  under- 
going all  the  miseries  of  an  iron  captivity  and  hope- 
less exile,  miseries  so  great  that  to  escape  from  them 
he  and  his  fellows  had  not  hesitated  to  imperil  their 
lives  in  an  open  boat,  knowing  that  if  their  attempt 
failed  a cruel  punishment  and  more  rigid  captivity 
awaited  them,  and  no  doubt  he  told  all  this  to  the 
officials  of  the  Dutch  factory.  They  had  only  to 
ask  and  obtain  the  intervention  of  the  Japanese,  if 
for  nothing  else  to  make  inquiries  ; but  it  is  another 
instance  of  the  depths  of  degradation  to  which  the 
early  Dutch  traders  with  Japan  allowed  themselves 
to  fall  in  their  cupidity  for  gain,  that  they  left  their 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  225 


countrymen,  servants  of  their  own  Company,  ship- 
wrecked and  castaway  while  in  the  discharge  of  their 
duty,  to  their  fate  rather  than  risk  offending  or 
troubling  the  Japanese  by  making  a single  repre- 
sentation on  their  behalf.  Nothing  was  ever  heard 
of  them  again,  nothing  is  told  of  them  in  Korean 
history  ; and  how  or  when  they  died,  whether  they 
had  to  pay  the  penalty  of  their  comrades’  escape  by 
torture  and  execution  or,  as  Wetteree,  lingered  out 
hopeless  lives  in  captivity,  is  entirely  unknown.  Many 
other  Europeans  of  whom  we  now  know  nothing  may 
have  met  with  the  same  fate.  One  European  ship 
out  of  every  three  that  in  those  days  sailed  to  the 
Eastern  seas  was  never  heard  of  again  after  leaving 
her  last  port  of  departure,  and  it  is  not  unreason- 
able to  suppose  that  the  Sparrowhawk  was  not 
the  only  one  that  was  cast  away  on  the  storm- 
beaten  and  dangerous  coasts  of  Eastern  or  Southern 
Korea. 

In  the  year  1797,  Captain  Broughton,  in  his  voyage 
of  discovery  in  H.M.S.  Providence,  cruised  along 
the  east  coast  of  Korea,  and  as  a memento  of  his 
visit  gave  his  name  to  the  great  bay  in  the  south  of 
the  province  of  Ham  Gyong,  which  it  still  bears  on 
European  maps  and  charts.  Nineteen  years  later, 
H.M.  ships  Lyra  and  Alceste,  which  had  just  con- 
veyed Lord  Amherst’s  Mission  to  Peking,  visited  the 
south-west  coast,  and  Captain  Basil  Hall,  the  com- 
mander of  the  Lyra,  has  left  a description  to  us 
of  what  he  saw  during  his  stay  of  eleven  days  on 
the  coast  and  in  the  group  of  islands  off  it,  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  “ Sir  James  Hall  Islands,”  in 
memory  of  his  father,  the  President  of  the  Edinburgh 
Geographical  Society.  Neither  of  the  great  navi- 
gators made  any  endeavour  to  penetrate  into  ,the 
country,  and  their  principal  interest  in  it  was  purely 
professional,  to  delineate  its  coast  line  for  the  benefit 

15 


226 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


of  sailors  who  might  follow  them.i  In  1835  the  first 
French  missionary  succeeded  in  crossing  the  northern 
frontiers  and  making  his  way  to  Seoul,  but  his  story 
and  that  of  his  colleagues  belongs  to  another  chapter. 

Ten  years  later  Captain  Belcher  in  H.M.S.  Sama- 
rang  surveyed  the  coasts  of  Quelpart  and  the  harbour 
of  Port  Hamilton,  and  early  in  1846  a French  frigate 
appeared  at  the  entrance  of  the  River  Han  and 
delivered  to  the  local  officials  a letter  demanding 
from  the  Government  an  explanation  of  the  execution 
of  the  three  missionaries,  seven  years  before  .2  The 
letter  contained  an  intimation  that  other  ships  would 
come  later  to  receive  the  reply,  and  in  compliance 
with  it,  two  frigates,  la  Gloire  and  la  Victorieuse, 
arrived  off  the  coast  in  August  of  the  same  year. 
Their  visit  was  unfortunate.  Both  grounded  on  un- 
charted shoals  at  high-water,  and  when  the  tide  fell, 
rapidly  and  deeply  as  it  always  does  on  the  west 
coast,  both  were  left  high  and  dry  on  the  rocks,  and 
both  became  total  wrecks.  The  crews  were  landed 
on  an  island  near  at  hand,  and  one  of  the  lifeboats 
was  sent  to  Shanghai  to  convey  tidings  of  their  mis- 
fortune and  to  bring  a ship  to  their  relief.  Before 
it  came,  however,  all  the  shipwrecked  men  were  taken 

’ In  the  year  1875,  while  Korea  still  rigidly  maintained  her  hermit- 
like seclusion,  the  present  writer  visited  the  coasts  in  an  English 
man-of-war.  Captain  Hall’s  description  of  his  experience  might  be 
applied  verbatim  to  those  of  the  writer  on  that  occasion.  The 
Koreans  were  civil  and  polite,  but  refused  to  permit  any  advance 
inland  from  the  beach,  to  sell  anything — even  beef — or  to  give 
admission  to  the  towns  or  villages,  and  it  was  intimated  that  huge 
piles  of  stones — the  Koreans  are  the  most  expert  stone  throwers  in 
the  world — were  ready  to  welcome  any  one  who  attempted  to 
approach  either.  On  the  other  hand,  they  betrayed  the  most 
intense  curiosity  themselves,  visited  every  part  of  the  ship,  and,  it 
must  be  added,  stole  freely,  several  of  their  thefts,  which  were  not 
discovered  at  the  time,  proving  very  inconvenient. 

* Vide  p.  271. 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  227 


away  by  an  English  steamer  which  happened  to  pass 
on  her  voyage  from  Newchwang.  While  they  were 
on  the  island  they  were  well  treated  by  the  inhabit- 
ants, and  an  official  who  came  from  the  capital 
not  only  permitted  provisions  to  be  sold  to  them 
but  offered  in  the  name  of  his  Government  to 
provide  boats  for  their  safe  conveyance  to  China. 
They  were,  however,  rigidly  secluded,  their  camp 
on  the  island  watched  all  night  by  Government 
boats  with  lanterns,  no  intercourse  beyond  what 
was  absolutely  necessary  was  permitted  with  the 
natives,  and,  although  the  official  knew  the  object  with 
which  the  two  frigates  had  come  to  Korea,  he  neither 
brought  nor  mentioned  the  reply  to  the  first  letter. 

The  visit  of  the  frigates,  notwithstanding  its  un- 
fortunate determination,  aroused  the  Korean  Court 
to  the  danger  to  the  national  seclusion  which  was 
provoked  by  their  failure  to  reply  to  the  original 
letter  from  the  French  Government,  and  to  prevent 
further  visits  from  the  foreign  barbarians  a reply 
was  sent  by  Peking  after  the  removal  of  the  ship- 
wrecked sailors.  As  the  reply  is  an  interesting  illus- 
tration of  Oriental  argument  and  diplomacy,  it  is, 
notwithstanding  its  length,  worth  quoting  in  full,  as 
it  is  given  by  Dallet  in  a translation  from  the  version 
that  was  published  in  Korea  under  a royal  proclama- 
tion that  it  should  be  made  known  to  all  the  kingdom  : 


“ Last  year,  the  inhabitants  of  one  of  our  Islands  delivered  to  us  a 
letter  brought  to  them,  they  said,  by  foreign  ships.  We  were  much 
astonished  by  this  news  and,  on  opening  the  letter,  we  saw  that  it 
was  addressed  to  our  Ministers  by  a Chief  of  your  Kingdom  and  that 
its  contents  were  as  follows  : 

“ ‘ You  have  put  to  death  three  worthy  men  from  our  country, 
Imbert,  Maubant  and  Chastan.*  We  desire  to  ask  you  why  you  killed 
them.  You  will  perhaps  say  that  Korean  law  forbids  foreigners  to 


• Tide  p.  271. 


228 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


enter  the  kingdom,  and  that  the  men  were  condemned  for  having 
disobeyed  this  law.  But  if  Chinese,  Japanese  or  Manchurians  entered 
Korea,  you  would  not  dare  to  kill  them  but  w’ould  have  them  sent 
back  to  their  own  country.  Why  then  did  you  not  treat  these  men 
as  you  would  have  treated  Chinese,  Japanese  or  Manchurians?  Had 
they  been  guilty  of  homicide,  arson  or  other  crimes  of  like  kind,  you 
would  have  been  justified  in  punishing  them  and  we  should  have  had 
nothing  to  say  against  it.  But  as  they  were  innocent  and  you 
condemned  them  unjustly,  you  have  deeply  insulted  the  Kingdom  of 
France.’ 

“ To  this  letter  we  reply  clearly  : In  the  year  Kei-hai,  some 
foreigners  were  arrested  in  Korea.  We  do  not  know  at  what  period 
they  introduced  themselves  into  our  country-.  They  were  dressed 
like  Koreans  and  spoke  our  language ; they  travelled  at  night  and 
slept  during  the  day  ; they  covered  [veiled]  their  faces ; they  were 
secretive  and  associated  with  rebels,  scoundrels  and  ungodly  people. 
Are  these  the  men  mentioned  in  the  letter  of  your  Chief?  Under 
examination  in  the  Court  of  Justice  they  did  not  say  that  they  were 
Frenchmen,  and  even  if  they  had  said  so,  it  would  have  been  the 
first  time  for  us  to  have  heard  of  your  country,  and  would  have  been 
no  reason  for  us  not  to  apply  our  law  which  forbids  people  to  enter 
clandestinely  into  ours.  Besides  their  conduct  in  changing  their 
names  and  clothing  proved  to  us  their  ill-will  and  rendered  it  im- 
possible to  compare  them  to  persons  shipwrecked  by  accident  on 
our  coast. 

“ Our  kingdom  is  surrounded  by  seas  and  foreigners  are  often  ship- 
wrecked on  our  coasts  ; in  that  case,  we  come  to  their  aid,  we  give 
them  food  and,  if  possible,  send  them  back  to  their  own  country'. 
Such  is  the  law  of  our  country.  If  your  compatriots  had  been  ship- 
wrecked people  what  reason  is  there  wh)'  we  should  have  treated 
them  otherwise  than  we  would  have  done  the  Chinese,  Manchurians 
or  Japanese  ? You  say  further  that  these  Frenchmen  were  killed  wath- 
out  legal  cause  and  that  in  doing  this,  we  have  deeply  insulted  you. 
These  words  much  astonish  us.  We  do  not  know  how  far  Korea  is 
from  France,  and  we  have  no  communications  with  you.  What 
motive  should  we  have  had  to  insult  you  ? Think  what  you  would 
do  5’ourselves  if  some  Korean  came  secretly  and  in  disguise  into 
your  country  to  do  harm.  Would  you  leave  him  in  peace  ? If 
Chinese,  Japanese  or  Manchurians  were  to  act  as  }’Our  countr}'men 
have  done  we  should  punish  them  according  to  our  law.  Formerly 
we  condemned  a Chinaman  to  capital  punishment  for  entering  the 
country  in  secret  and  in  disguise.  The  Chinese  Government  did 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  229 


not  complain  of  this  because  it  knew  our  laws.  Even  if  we  had 
known  that  the  men  we  put  to  death  were  French,  we  should  not 
have  been  able  to  spare  them,  as  their  actions  were  more  criminal 
than  homicide  or  arson  ; much  more  were  we,  when  ignorant  of 
their  nationality,  obliged  to  sentence  them  to  the  last  penalty.  The 
thing  is  quite  clear  and  requires  no  further  explanation. 

“ We  know  that  you  intend  coming  this  year  to  request  an  answer 
to  your  letter,  but  as  it  was  delivered  to  us  without  the  necessary 
formalities,  there  is  no  obligation  on  us  to  send  any  reply  to  it.  It 
is  not  the  affair  of  a local  governor.  Our  kingdom  is  subordinate 
to  the  Chinese  Government  and  our  foreign  affairs  must  be  referred 
to  the  Emperor. 

“ Report  this  to  your  chief  and  do  not  be  surprised  that,  in  order 
to  explain  to  you  the  true  state  of  affairs,  we  have  been  obliged  to 
speak  to  you  as  we  have  done.”* 

The  logic  of  the  answer  is  irresistible,  but  logic 
does  not  atone  in  the  eyes  of  a great  nation  for  the 
murder  of  its  subjects,  and  France  would  no  doubt 
have  followed  the  matter  farther  had  it  not  been 
for  her  own  internal  affairs.  It  is  a strange  fact 
that  revolutions  in  France  have  always  seemed  to 
occur  just  at  periods  when  the  protection  or  advance- 
ment of  the  interests  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the 
Far  East  required  active  measures  on  the  part  of  her 
Government  or  the  authorities  of  the  Church.  The 
revolution  of  1798  caused  the  Church  in  China  and 
Korea  to  be  uncared  for  and  neglected  for  many 
years.  In  the  case  just  told  the  Korean  letter  had 
hardly  reached  Paris  when  the  revolution  of  1848 
occurred  and  Korea  was  utterly  forgotten.  In  1870, 
the  massacre  at  Tientsin  was  at  once  followed  by 
the  dovmfall  of  Napoleon,  and  the  Far  East  had 
perforce  once  more  to  be  entirely  disregarded. 
Nothing  was  done  after  the  rescue  by  English  ships 
of  the  crews  of  the  Gloire  and  Victorieuse.  Korea 
was  told  by  the  French  representative  in  China  that 
she  would  expose  herself  to  serious  dangers  if  in 
* Dallet,  “ Histoire  de  I'Eglise  de  Coree,"  vol.  ii.  p.  330. 


230 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


future  she  failed  to  send  a Frenchman  arrested  in 
Korea  to  Peking,  but  she  could  laugh  at  the  threat. 
The  French  did  not  even  send  a ship  to  collect  the 
salvage  from  the  wrecks  of  the  two  frigates,  and 
twenty  years  lapsed  before  their  men-of-war  were 
seen  again  from  the  Korean  shores.  Then  they  made 
a serious  effort,  not  only  to  obtain  satisfaction  for 
more  murdered  priests  but  to  break  down  the  barriers 
of  Korean  civilisation. 

In  the  year  1866,  the  year  in  which  the  effort 
just  alluded  to  was  made  by  the  French,  two  attempts 
were  made  to  enter  Korea  by  private  adventurers. 
Twice  in  that  year,  prior  to  the  French,  a German 
named  Oppert,  a trader  who  had  resided  for  some 
years  at  Shanghai,  endeavoured  to  ascend  the  River 
Han,  his  ostensible  object  being,  of  course,  trade, 
but  on  both  occasions  he  found  it  advisable  to  with- 
draw without  having  achieved  anything  beyond  a 
superficial  survey  of  the  river  approaches.  In  the 
same  year  a United  States  schooner  was  wrecked 
on  the  coast  of  Hoang-Hai.  The  crew  were  saved  and 
kindly  treated  by  the  local  authorities,  once  the  latter 
had  assured  themselves  that  they  were  not  dealing 
with  missionaries  who  had  deliberately  adopted  this 
violent  means  of  gaining  an  entry  to  their  country. 
They  were  finally  conducted  to  the  frontier  town  of 
Aichiu,  whence  they  reached  the  Treaty  Port  of  New- 
chwang  in  North  China.  While  the  shipwrecked  men 
were  still  in  Korea,  another  United  States  schooner, 
the  General  Sherman,  left  Chefoo,  avowedly  for  the 
same  purpose  as  that  of  Oppert,  to  endeavour  to  sell 
her  cargo  to  the  Koreans.  It  was  afterwards  ascer- 
tained that  she  had  entered  the  River  Tatong  almost 
at  the  same  time  as  Oppert  entered  the  Han,  but 
while  the  latter  returned  in  safety  none  of  the 
passengers  or  crew  of  the  General  Sherman  were 
ever  seen  again  by  European  eyes.  In  the  following 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  231 


year  (1867)  Oppert  became  the  leader  of  a more 
notorious  expedition.  In  association  with  an 
American  citizen  named  Jenkins,  he  succeeded  in 
chartering  two  steamers,  one  of  a thousand  tons, 
and  therefore  of  considerable  size  for  those  days, 
and  the  other  a tug  of  small  size  and  shallow  draft 
suitable  for  river  work.  Both  were  manned  by  a 
large  crew  of  Manila  and  Chinese  sailors,  both  ships 
and  sailors  being  fully  armed.  Along  with  them 
went  a French  priest  who  was  said  to  have  been  one 
of  the  missionaries  who  had  lived  in  and  escaped 
from  the  persecution  in  Korea,  and  who  now  went 
as  interpreter  and  guide. 

The  avowed  object  of  the  expedition,  as  un- 
blushingly  acknowledged  afterwards  in  a book  written 
by  its  leader,  was  that  of  sacrilege  and  robbery,  but 
evil  was  to  be  committed  only  that  good  might  come 
out  of  it.  One  of  the  royal  tombs  was  to  be  opened 
and  certain  relics  taken  from  it,  to  which  the  Regent 
of  Korea  at  the  time,  the  Tai  Won  Kun,  attached 
great  value,  believing  that  the  safety  and  the  welfare 
of  his  own  house  were  indissolubly  associated  with 
their  preservation.  If,  therefore,  possession  of  them 
could  be  obtained,  they  might  be  used  as  a 
fulcrum  to  extort  from  the  proud  and  conservative 
Regent,  who  bitterly  hated  all  Europeans  both  then 
and  afterwards,  who  was  the  instigator  of  the  whole- 
sale persecution  of  Christians  that  was  then  at  its 
height,  concessions  which  would  secure  the  safety 
of  Christians  and  open  the  way  to  trade  with  Europe. 
The  German  adventurer,  a Hamburg  Jew,  of  no  social 
standing  among  the  European  communities  in  the 
East,  constituted  himself  an  ambassador  to  that  end 
and  actually  drafted  a treaty  which  he  proposed  to 
force  upon  the  Tai  .Won  Kun.  This  excuse  may  have 
been  sufficient  to  deceive  and  enlist  the  services  of 
the  French  priest,  who  would  have  hesitated  at 


232 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


nothing  that  might  secure  the  wellbeing  of  his  be- 
loved converts  in  Korea  ; but  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  object  of  Oppert  and  his  American  co-adventurer 
was  very  different. 

Korea  was  always  known  to  be  rich  in  gold  ; and 
vague  traditions,  percolating  through  the  annual 
Korean  tribute-bearing  embassies  to  Peking,  that 
Korean  kings  were  buried  in  coffers  of  solid  gold, 
had  become  current  in  Shanghai  and  other  European 
trading  settlements  on  the  China  coast.  It  was  with 
the  deliberate  purpose  of  rifling  their  tombs  that 
Oppert’s  buccaneering  expedition  set  out,  and,  while 
the  benefit  of  the  doubt  must  be  given  to  the  owners 
and  crew  of  the  General  Sherman,  whose  mouths 
were  closed  by  death  before  they  had  the  opportunity 
of  speaking  in  their  own  defence,  there  is  only  too 
much  reason  to  believe  that  their  purpose  was  not 
widely  different.  The  fate  of  the  General  Sherman 
may  be  told  here,  as  it  was  afterwards  ascertained 
from  the  information  of  the  Koreans  themselves.  She 
succeeding  in  ascending  the  river  when  it  was  flooded 
by  summer  rains,  as  far  as  Phyong  An,  but  while 
there  the  falling  of  the  river  caused  her  to  take  the 
ground  and  fall  on  her  side.  While  in  this  helpless 
position  an  altercation  occurred  between  some  of  her 
crew  and  the  natives,  and  the  latter,  not  acting  at  the 
suggestion  or  under  the  leadership  of  the  officials 
but  under  the  spur  of  their  own  indignation  at  the 
foreigners’  conduct,  attacked  the  ship  in  a huge  mob, 
and  though  suffering  severe  loss,  destroyed  both  the 
ship  and  crew,  some  of  the  crew  being  killed,  others 
drowmed  as  they  leaped  into  the  river  from  the  burn- 
ing ship,  and  some  who  were  taken  alive  executed. 

Oppert  was  more  fortunate.  He  was  a man  of 
considerable  ability,  literary  as  well  as  mercantile  ; 
and  many  years  afterwards,  when  the  Japanese  had 
broken  the  barriers  of  Korea’s  exclusiveness  and 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  233 


European  attention  was  being  directed  to  it  as  a 
new  field  for  trade  and  politics,  he  published  a work 
in  which  he  described  his  own  voyages  to  Korea, 
and  gave  interesting  particulars,  which  were  then 
almost  wholly  novel,  of  what  he  had  seen.  He 
ascended,  not  the  River  Tatong  as  did  the  General 
Sherman  but  the  Han,  leading  direct  to  the  capital, 
and  a strong  party  fully  armed  having  been  landed, 
an  attempt  was  made  to  excavate  what  was  believed 
to  be  a royal  tomb.  But  when  the  earth  had  been 
cleared  away,  with  much  labour,  heavy  stone  flags 
were  found  beneath  which  the  plunderers  were  un- 
able to  move  with  the  tools  they  had  with  them,  and 
they  had  to  return  to  their  ship  with  their  object 
unfulfilled.  On  their  way  back  they  were  attacked  by 
a large  native  crowd  but  were  strong  enough  with 
their  modem  firearms,  opposed  to  gingalls  and  stones, 
to  keep  their  assailants  at  a distance  and  to  make  their 
way  to  their  boats  with  insignificant  loss  to  them- 
selves. The  country  being  now  roused  against  them, 
it  was  hopeless  to  pursue  their  original  object,  and 
the  “ fleet  ” returned  to  Shanghai,  where  its  piratical 
nature  soon  leaked  out. 

The  American  who  had  financed  and  engineered  the 
expedition  was  arrested  and  brought  to  trial  before 
the  United  States  Consular  Court,  but  there  was  not 
sufficient  evidence  to  justify  a conviction  for  any 
offence  known  to  the  common  law  of  the  United 
States  ; and  the  United  States  had  not  at  its  disposal 
the  machinery  of  Orders  in  Council  which  enabled 
Great  Britain  to  create  offences  which,  though  un- 
known to  the  common  or  statute  law  of  the  Empire, 
were  rendered  necessary  by  the  peculiar  conditions  of 
our  extra-territorial  jurisdiction  in  the  Far  East.  The 
accused  therefore  escaped  all  punishment.  The  case 
of  the  German,  Oppert,  was  even  a more  striking  illus- 
tration of  the  evils  of  extra-territoriality  when  Powers 


234 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


who  enjoy  its  privileges  fail  to  provide  the  necessary 
machinery  for  fulfilling  the  moral  obligations  which 
it  imposes  on  them.  Prussia  had  then  neither 
political  nor  commercial  interests  in  the  Far  East, 
and  the  prospect  that  it  should  ever  have  either 
seemed  as  remote  as  it  does  at  the  present  that  the 
German  Empire  may  one  day  wrest  from  England  the 
chain  of  Imperial  colonies  that  guard  the  ocean 
highway  to  the  East.  Prussia  was  therefore  repre- 
sented only  by  merchant  consuls,  vested  with  no 
higher  criminal  jurisdiction  than  enabled  them  to 
deal  with  a drunken  seaman.  They  had  not  the 
legal  authority,  and,  if  they  had  had  the  legal 
authority,  they  had  neither  the  theoretical  nor 
practical  knowledge  that  would  have  enabled  them 
to  deal  with  such  a case  as  that  of  Oppert,  and  the 
nearest  court  in  which  any  charge  could  be  preferred 
against  him  was  in  Prussia.  He  therefore  escaped 
scot-free,  and  became  lost  to  public  notice  until  the 
publication  of  his  book,  fourteen  years  afterwards. 
The  evil  that  he  did  long  survived  his  departure  from 
China.  When  the  Japanese  made  their  first  treaty 
with  Korea,  ten  years  after  Oppert’s  expedition,  the 
memoiy  of  his  attempted  outrage  on  the  grave  of  one 
of  their  kings  was  still  strong  enough  to  form  a 
considerable  factor  for  the  foundation  of  the  hatred 
against  Europeans  which  was  universal  among  all 
classes. 

We  have  told  this  story  of  Oppert’s  attempted 
piracy  as  it  is  of  some  interest  as  illustrating  what 
was  possible  in  those  days  in  the  China  Seas,  when 
acts  that  more  than  savoured  of  piracy,  both  on  land 
and  sea,  were  not  wholly  unknown  even  on  the  part 
of  British  subjects.  Insignificant  as  the  case  may 
appear  on  first  sight,  the  knowledge  of  what  had 
happened  quickly  spread  through  all  Korea,  and  had 
the  result  of  intensifying  the  already  existing  hatred 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  235 


of  Europeans  and  the  belief  that  all  were  only  robbers 
to  be  kept  out  of  the  country  at  any  cost.  The 
General  Sherman  affair  had  more  important  results, 
but  before  describing  them  we  have  to  relate  the  story 
of  the  French  attempt  to  make  the  names  of  Europe 
and  Christianity  respected  in  Seoul. 

The  protection  of  Roman  Catholics  throughout  the 
whole  of  the  so-called  uncivilised  world  was  one  of 
the  principles  of  the  foreign  policy  of  Napoleon  III. 
It  was  when  he  was  at  the  height  of  his  power  and 
influence  that  the  intelligence  of  the  Christian  perse- 
cution of  1866  and  the  massacre  of  the  bishop  and 
the  missionaries  in  Korea  * reached  Peking,  and  his 
diplomatic  representative  at  the  Chinese  capital 
thought  he  would  be  only  anticipating  his  master’s 
instructions  by  taking  immediate  steps  for  avenging 
an  outrage  on  priests  who  were  entitled  to  his  good 
offices,  not  only  as  Roman  Catholics  but  as  French 
citizens.  Accordingly,  after  having  delivered  an  ulti- 
matum to  the  Chinese  Government,  as  Korea’s 
suzerain,  the  language  of  which,  in  its  bombastic 
arrogance,  was  quite  worthy  of  his  Imperial  master, 
he  called  upon  the  French  admiral  on  the  China 
Station  to  vindicate  the  honour  of  France.  In 
October,  1866,  the  fleet,  numbering  seven  ships  of 
war  of  varying  calibre,  proceeded  to  the  entrance 
of  the  River  Han.  As  another  curious  illustration 
of  the  conditions  of  European  intercourse  with  the 
East  in  these  days,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  both 
Great  Britain  and  France  maintained  garrisons  of 
very  substantial  strength  of  their  ovm  troops  at  Yoko- 
hama. The  object  of  these  garrisons  was  to  secure 
for  European  residents  the  protection  in  Japan  from 
Japanese  rebels  in  arms  against  their  own  Govern- 
ment which  that  Government  was  not  able  to  guarantee 
itself.  The  object  was  justified  by  the  conditions 
■ Vide  p.  283. 


236 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


of  Japan  at  the  time,  but  it  should  have  been  strictly 
observed,  and  if  a temporary  withdrawal  of  the  troops 
could  be  made  with  safety,  equally  so  could  a per- 
manent one.  The  French  troops  were  now  with- 
drawn from  Yokohama  and  embarked  on  the  fleet 
that  was  to  invade  Korea.  Japan  was  thus  made  a 
basis  from  which  an  attack  was  delivered  on  a 
friendly  power,  with  which  she  had  every  reason  to 
be  in  sympathy,  and  the  whole  policy  of  keeping 
French  soldiers  in  Yokohama  stultified. 

The  island  of  Kang  Wha,  or  “ the  Flower  of  the 
river  ” — so  called  from  its  fertility  and  the  beauty  of  its 
situation — lies  at  the  mouth  of  the  River  Han,  about 
forty-five  miles  from  the  capital.  It  has  always  been 
one  of  the  fortified  outposts  of  the  capital,  and  it  was 
frequently  the  refuge  of  the  Korean  kings  when 
domestic  trouble  or  foreign  invasion  forced  them  to 
forsake  their  capital.  In  the  towm  which  is  on  the 
island  duplicates  of  the  national  archives  at  Seoul 
are  carefully  preserved,  and  there  were  also  in  it 
large  magazines  of  such  war  material  as  the  Koreans 
possessed  and  a reserve  of  treasure.  More  interesting 
than  the  war  material  and  treasure  was  the  royal 
library. 

“ The  library  was  very  rich.  Two  or  three  thousand  books  printed 
in  Chinese  with  numerous  drawings,  on  good  paper  all  well  labelled, 
the  greater  number  very  bulky,  bound  with  badges  of  copper  on 
covers  of  silk  green  or  crimson,  amongst  them  the  ancient  history 
of  Korea  in  sixty  volumes.  What  was  most  curious,  was  a book 
formed  of  Marble  Tablets,  folding  like  the  panels  of  a screen  on 
hinges  of  gilded  copper,  each  tablet  protected  by  a pad  of  scarlet 
silk.  The  whole  was  placed  in  a prett}’  copper  box,  which  was  in 
its  turn  encased  in  a wooden  box  painted  red  with  scrolls  of  gilded 
copper.  When  opened  these  tablets  formed  a book  of  about  a dozen 
pages.  They  contained,  some  say,  the  moral  law  of  the  country, 
according  to  others,  whose  opinions  are  more  likely  to  be  correct, 
the  favours  accorded  to  the  Kings  of  Korea  by  the  Emperor  of 
China.  The  Koreans  valued  it  highly.  In  another  case,  was  the 


■p^ARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  237 


perfectly  sculptured  marble  tortoise,  under  the  pedestal  of  which 
was  the  royal  seal,  the  seal  which  was  so  formidable  that  the  simple- 
minded  Koreans  could  neither  touch  or  even  see  it,  and  the 
possession  of  which  has  many  times  sufficed  to  transfer  royal 
authority  and  to  end  revolutions.  This  seal  was  new,  and  seemed 
never  to  have  been  used.”  ' 

The  French  landed  in  the  island,  attacked  the 
town,  and  undeterred  by  a heavy  fire  from  jingals, 
broke  through  the  gates  with  hatchets  and  quickly 
found  themselves  in  full  possession  of  it.  Reinforce- 
ments were  hastily  sent  from  Seoul  to  garrison 
another  fortress  in  the  island,  and  when  the  French 
attacked  this  a few  days  after  their  first  triumph  they 
met  with  so  warm  a reception  that  they  were  obliged 
to  retreat  in  disorder  with  considerable  loss,  followed 
to  their  boats  with  triumphant  shouts  from  the 
Koreans.  Before  embarking,  they  set  fire  to  the 
city  of  Kang  Wha,  and  it  was  burned  from  end  to 
end.  This  was  the  end  of  the  expedition.  The 
French  came  to  the  conclusion  that  a few  hundred 
soldiers  and  sailors,  landed  where  they  could  not  be 
protected  by  the  guns  of  their  fleet,  were  insufficient 
to  conquer  a nation,  even  one  so  backward  in  military 
equipment  and  science  as  were  the  Koreans,  and  re- 
turned to  China  to  await  orders  or  reinforcement 
from  home.  When  the  orders  came  they  brought  a 
disapproval  of  the  action  of  the  minister,  and  as 
European  affairs  soon  afterwards  gave  the  Emperor 
enough  to  occupy  both  his  thoughts  and  his  soldiers, 
nothing  was  ever  heard  of  further  French  operations 
against  Korea. 

Another  power  took  up  the  gauntlet  which  Korea, 
in  adhering  to  her  national  policy  of  rigid  isolation, 
flung  in  the  face  of  Western  nations.  The  United 
States  was  the  Power  which,  by  firm  diplomacy 
backed  by  a strong  fleet,  compelled  Japan  to  depart 
• Dallet,  " Histoire  de  I'Eglise  de  Coree,”  vol.  ii.  p.  579. 


238 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


from  the  same  policy  that  Korea  still  followed,  and 
her  statesmen  thought  they  might  be  equally  success- 
ful in  Korea.  The  disappearance  of  the  General 
Sherman  furnished  the  excuse.  Nothing  definite  was 
known  as  to  her  fate  or  that  of  her  crew — who  it  is 
to  be  remembered  were  supposed  to  have  gone  to 
Korea  on  a peaceful  trading  adventure — and  inquiry 
had  to  be  made  in  regard  to  it.  Measures  were  also 
to  be  taken  which  would  ensure  the  safety  of  American 
sailors  who  might  subsequently  be  shipwrecked  on 
Korean  coasts,  and  the  coast  and  rivers  surveyed 
for  the  use  of  shipping  that  approached  Korean  waters. 
Incidentally  to  these  objects  a treaty  of  commerce 
might  also  be  concluded.  The  United  States  fleet  was 
stronger  than  that  of  the  F rench,  and  was  commanded 
by  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  experienced  admirals 
in  their  navy.  Diplomacy  was  represented  by  the 
minister  at  Peking,  who  accompanied  the  fleet,  all 
whose  qualities  were  the  antithesis  of  those  of  the 
bombastic  Napoleonic  Frenchman,  and  who  had  the 
full  confidence  and  was  armed  with  the  explicit  in- 
structions of  his  Government.  All  preparations 
having  been  made,  the  fleet  sailed  from  Nagasaki  on 
May  1 6,  1871,  and  a few  days  later  was  off  the  mouth 
of  the  Han.  Some  days  were  passed  there  waiting 
for  replies  to  the  letters  which  were  sent  to  the 
capital,  and  then,  none  having  been  received,  boats 
were  sent  out  to  survey  the  river.  When  they  had 
proceeded  a little  distance  up  it  and  were  opposite 
the  island  of  Kang  Wha,  heavy  fire  was  opened  on 
them  from  all  the  forts  on  the  island,  all  repaired  and 
strengthened  since  the  French  escapade  of  five  years 
previously.  But  the  Korean  guns  were  trained  after 
the  old  Chinese  fashion,  to  sweep  only  one  particular 
spot,  and  as  the  boats  took  a course  which  brought 
them  outside  this  spot  few  of  them  were  struck,  while 
such  was  the  quality  of  Korean  powder  and  shot  that 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  239 


the  few  which  were  struck  were  uninjured.  The 
fire  was  returned  with  all  the  vigour  that  could  be 
given  to  it  by  open  launches,  armed  with  fourteen- 
pounder  howitzers,  and  a couple  of  gun -boats  with 
eight-inch  rifled  guns,  and  this  was  quite  sufficient 
to  silence  the  forts  for  the  time.  The  flotilla  then 
returned  to  its  base  with  the  fleet,  its  casualties,  after 
a hot  engagement,  being  limited  to  two  men  slightly 
wounded.  Ten  days  more  passed.  Then  some 
officials  came  bearing  a letter,  the  translation  of  which 
was  as  follows  ; 

“ In  the  year  1868,  a man  of  your  nation  whose  name  was  Febiger, 
came  here,  and  communicated,  and  went  away.  Why  cannot  you 
do  the  same  ? In  the  year  1866,  a people  called  the  French  came 
here,  and  we  refer  you  to  them  for  what  happened.  This  people 
and  kingdom  have  lived  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  own  civilisation 
four  thousand  years,  and  we  want  no  other.  We  trouble  no  other 
nations.  Why  should  they  trouble  us  ? Our  country  is  in  the 
furthest  east,  yours  in  the  furthest  west.  For  what  purpose  do  you 
come  so  many  thousand  miles  across  the  sea?  Is  it  to  enquire  about 
the  vessel  destroyed  [the  General  Sherman']  ? Her  men  committed 
piracy  and  murder  and  they  were  punished  with  death.  Do  you 
want  our  land  ? That  cannot  be.  Do  you  want  intercourse  with 
us?  That  cannot  be.”  ‘ 

The  visitors  were  of  too  low  rank  to  be  personally 
received  by  either  the  minister  or  admiral.  They 
gave  no  hope  of  any  of  higher  degree  coming,  of  any 
apology  for  the  firing  on  the  boats,  and  no  further 
communication  was  received  from  the  capital.  An 
advance  in  force  was  therefore  decided  upon. 
Another  and  a much  larger  flotilla  was  sent  up  the 
river,  a landing  effected,  and  the  forts  on  the  island 
captured  and  destroyed  after  two  days’  desultory 
fighting,  during  which  three  Americans  were  killed 

‘ Japan  Mail,  1871.  Febiger  was  the  commander  of  the  United 
States  man-of-war  Shenandoah,  which  made  a preliminary  survey  of 
the  entrance  of  the  Han. 


240 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


and  hundreds  of  the  Koreans  mowed  down  by  the 
Remington  rifles  and  shell  and  shrapnel  fire  of  the 
Americans.  Then  the  honour  of  the  flag  having 
been  vindicated,  and  the  hopelessness  recognised  of  a 
treaty  of  friendship  with  the  Koreans  after  such  pre- 
liminaries to  peaceful  negotiation,  the  fleet  sailed 
away  as  the  Frenchmen  had  done  before  them. 

The  results  of  the  two  expeditions  within  a few 
years  of  each  other  were  not  only  fruitless  as  far 
as  the  promotion  of  Western  interests  was  concerned, 
but  were,  on  the  contrary,  mischievous  in  the  extreme. 
Just  as  the  Japanese  claimed  a victory  over  the  British 
fleet  when  it  withdrew  from  Kagoshima,'  so  now  did 
the  Koreans  claim  to  have  victoriously  repulsed  the 
French  and  United  States  fleets  when  they  threatened 
their  shores  ; and  their  victory  served  to  confirm  the 
worst  and  most  bigoted  prejudices,  not  only  of  the 
autocratic  Regent  but  of  the  entire  official  hierarchy, 
their  resolution  to  maintain  the  national  isolation,  and 
their  confidence  in  their  own  invincibility.  The  object 
of  the  French  expedition  was  to  avenge  murdered 
Catholics  and  secure  immunity  for  them  in  the  future. 
When  the  expedition  was  driven  away,  as  the  Koreans 
believed  it  to  have  been,  the  persecution  of  native 
Christians  was  renewed  with  redoubled  vigour  and 
cruelty,  and  the  executioner  and  the  torturer  became 
busy  in  every  district  in  which  the  presence  of  a 
Christian  was  suspected.  There  are  not  wanting  some 
who  even  ascribe  the  Tientsin  massacre  of  1870  to 
the  loss  of  French  prestige  consequent  on  the  Korean 
fiasco.  The  United  States  had  full  warning  from  the 
experience  of  the  French  of  what  they  had  reason  to 
expect.  Their  motives  in  the  expedition  were  un- 
doubtedly humane  and  Christian  ; but  they  knew  the 
expedition  might  not  be  entirely  a pacific  one,  and 
if  force  was  to  be  used  it  should  have  been  strong 
• Vide  “ The  Story  of  Old  Japan,” 


EARLY  EUROPEAN  RELATIONS  241 


enough  to  have  been  invincible,  and  it  should  have 
been  carried  out  to  the  last  degree.  As  it  was,  the 
only  thing  achieved  by  it  was  the  destruction  of  life 
and  property,  while  the  Koreans,  convinced  by  both 
expeditions  of  the  wanton  aggressiveness  of 
Europeans  as  well  as  of  their  incapacity  and 
cowardice,  extended  their  contempt  to  the  Japanese 
who  had  just  entered  on  their  first  essay  in  the 
acquisition  of  European  civilisation,  and  expressed 
that  contempt  in  insulting  letters  which  nearly 
brought  war  between  them  and  Japan,  and  which  un- 
doubtedly would  have  brought  war  had  it  not  been 
for  Japan’s  own  internal  complications  at  the  time. 
As  it  was  Korea  was  left  alone  both  by  Europeans 
and  Japanese  for  five  years  more,  and  then  Japan 
was  strong  enough  and  determined  enough  to 
accomplish  what  the  United  States  had  so  vainly 
essayed. 


16 


CHAPTER  XII 


CHRISTIANITY  TO  THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION 

The  first  Christian  missionary  landed  in  Japan  in  the 
year  1549,  and  a campaign  of  propagandism  then 
began  which  rivalled  in  its  success  the  greatest 
triumphs  of  the  Apostles.  Fifty  years  afterwards 
the  toleration  which  the  Japanese  at  first  extended 
to  the  new  doctrine  was  changed  into  merciless  perse- 
cution, and  that,  in  its  turn,  equally  rivalled  the 
cruelty  with  which  Nero  pursued  the  Christians  of 
Rome.  It  also  rivalled  the  Roman  persecution  in  the 
heroic  fortitude  of  countless  martyrs,  in  the  torture, 
in  all  the  most  hideous  forms  that  human  ingenuity 
in  its  most  fiendish  mood  could  devise,  which  they 
suffered  rather  than  forsake  their  faith. 

Persecution  in  its  most  active  form  in  Japan  lasted 
for  forty  years,  at  the  end  of  which  Christianity 
was  exterminated,  not  to  appear  again  until,  under 
treaties  with  European  Powers,  missionaries  acquired 
the  legal  right  to  propagate  their  faith.  The  early 
pioneers  of  the  faith  confined  their  efforts  to  Japan. 
One  of  them,  it  has  been  told,  paid  a brief  visit  to 
Korea,  not  as  an  apostle  to  its  people  but  as  a 
chaplain  to  the  soldiers  who  were  slaughtering  and 
plundering  them,  and  while  there  his  ministrations 
were  limited  to  the  soldiers  who  had  already  been  con- 
verted in  Japan.  Among  the  natives  other  than  those 
who  were  made  prisoners  of  war  he  did  nothing, 
probably  could  do  nothing.  He  was  ignorant  of  their 

213 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  243 


language,  and  the  fact  that  he  came  under  the  mgis 
and  on  the  staff  of  a conquering  army  would  not  have 
commended  him  to  them  as  a preacher  of  mercy 
and  brotherly  love.  When  the  Japanese  withdrew 
from  Korea  “ not  a trace  of  Christianity  was  left. 
The  country  was  closed  to  Heaven  by  the  jealousy 
of  Hell.”  They  brought  back  with  them  to  their 
own  country  many  prisoners  of  war,  who  passed  the 
rest  of  their  lives  in  Japan.  The  prisoners  quickly 
acquired  the  Japanese  language,  and  the  missionaries 
extended  to  them  the  efforts  which  had  been  employed 
with  such  success  among  their  conquerors  and 
gaolers.  Many  of  them  were  converted.  Many  after- 
wards clung  to  the  faith  through  all  the  fierce  fires 
of  persecution  and  bore  torture  and  agonising  death 
with  the  same  unquailing  spirit  as  that  which  was 
universally  displayed  by  the  Japanese  martyrs.  The 
Korean  martyrs  in  Japan  were  only  known  to  the 
priests  by  their  baptismal  names,  and  there  are  now 
no  means  by  which  their  native  names  can  be 
identified. 

More  than  1 8o  years  passed  after  their  deaths 
before  Christianity  numbered  another  Korean  among 
its  believers.  In  i6oi,  Ricci,  an  Italian  of  noble 
birth,  the  great  Jesuit  missionary  who  performed 
in  China  the  part  of  Xavier  in  Japan,  took  up 
his  residence,  at  the  invitation  of  the  Court, 
in  Peking  ; and  there  his  profound  scholarship,  not 
only  in  Western  science,  especially  in  mathematics 
and  astronomy,  but  in  the  Chinese  language  and 
literature,  as  well  as  the  unsullied  purity  of  his  life, 
made  so  profound  an  impression  that  he  lived  in 
honour  till  his  death,  in  i6io,  and  death  did  not 
terminate  the  marks  of  respect  which  were  rendered 
to  him  by  a Government  to  whom  his  faith  /was 
1 utterly  antagonistic.  A splendid  tomb  was  erected 
for  his  remains  and  a residence  provided  for  his 


244 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


spiritual  successors.  The  great  mission  which  Ricci 
founded  has  continued  its  work  in  Peking  till  this 
day  ; his  name  is  to  this  day  the  best  known  in  the 
Empire  of  all  the  Europeans  with  whom  China  had 
her  earliest  associations. 

The  members  of  the  Korean  embassies  which 
annually  carried  the  tribute  to  Peking  had,  in  the 
freedom  which  they  enjoyed  during  their  stay  in 
the  northern  capital,  many  opportunities  of  seeing  and 
meeting  both  Ricci  and  his  successors,  which,  it  may 
be  assumed,  were  liberally  used  by  both  the  Jesuits 
in  the  zeal  with  which  they  embraced  every  chance  of 
sowing  the  seeds  of  their  Gospel,  no  matter  how 
unpromising  the  soil,  and  by  inquisitive  Koreans, 
who,  when  not  under  the  direct  eye  of  their  owm 
Government,  were  not  averse  to  acquire  some  know- 
ledge of  the  world  of  the  West,  which  under  their 
policy  of  national  isolation  was  otherwise  to  them 
a sealed  book.  They  received  from  the  Jesuits 
objects  which  were  full  of  wonder — clocks,  telescopes, 
eye-glasses,  and  translations  in  Chinese  of  European 
scientific  works.  They  also  received  the  outward 
symbols  of  the  Roman  Catholic  faith — crucifixes, 
images,  rosaries,  pictures,  and  translations  of  religious 
works.  The  latter  included  Ricci’s  “ Veritable 
Doctrine  of  the  Lord  of  Heaven,”  a work  dealing 
with  the  Divine  attributes  and  character,  in  which 
a parable  is  drawm  between  Christianity  and  the 
teachings  of  the  Chinese  literati.  It  also  appealed 
to  the  Koreans  in  that  it  contained  a powerful  ex- 
posure of  Buddhism,  which  had  fallen  into  disrepute 
among  them.  In  1720,  the  Korean  Ambassador  in 
Peking  had  many  conferences  with  the  missionaries, 
the  result  of  which  was  that  he  found  similarities 
between  the  Christian  doctrines  of  self-denial,  the 
purification  of  the  heart,  and  the  holy  Incarnation 
and  those  of  the  literati  of  China. 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  245 


For  fifty  years  after  their  importation  the  books 
received  little,  if  any,  attention.  Then  they  were 
studied  and  debated  by  a small  coterie  of  noble 
Koreans,  and  one  among  them  was  so  impressed  that 
he  resolved  to  order  the  rest  of  his  life  by  their  pre- 
cepts. He  had  no  calendar  to  tell  him  of  Sundays, 
so  he  abstained  from  work  and  devoted  himself  to 
prayer  every  seventh  day  of  each  lunar  month  ; he 
had  no  Church  almanack  nor  Prayer  Book  to  tell 
of  fast  days,  so  he  abstained  altogether  from  luxuries. 
He  was  not  a Christian,  was  never  baptized,  and 
made  no  converts  to  his  opinions  and  methods,  and 
it  was  not  till  1784  that  the  first  Korean  received  the 
sacrament  of  baptism. 

There  was  a young  scion  of  a noble  family,  dis- 
tinguished for  the  high  offices  in  the  Government 
which  had  been  held  by  its  members,  whose  firmness 
and  strength  of  character  procured  for  him  the 
soubriquet  of  Piek-I  (“Stone-wall”).*  He  was  of 
great  stature  and  unusual  strength,  and  was  therefore 
intended  by  his  father  for  a military  career  ; but  he 
was  devoted  to  study,  and  not  even  the  unbounded 
respect  and  unquestioning  obedience  that  were  due  in 
Korea  by  a son  to  his  father  could  induce  him  to 
adopt  the  career  which  his  father  wished.  His  read- 
ing included  some  of  the  imported  books,  both 
scientific  and  religious,  and  with  the  latter  he  became 
profoundly  impressed.  For  thirteen  years  he 
pondered  over  them,  vainly  longing  for  further  en- 
lightenment on  the  subject  of  which  they  treated. 
At  last,  in  1783,  the  father  of  one  of  his  friends,  a 
noble  equally  well  bom  with  himself,  was  nominated 
third  ambassador  to  Peking,  and  he  took  his  son 

■ This  is  the  translation  that  is  given  in  Dr.  Griffis’s  “ Corea,  the 
Hermit  Nation.”  The  present  writer  has  been  unable  to  find  the 
ideographs]  in  which  the  original  is  written,  and  cannot  therefore 
verify  the  translation. 


246 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


in  his  train.  Piek-I  eagerly  seized  the  opportunity. 
He  urged  his  friend  to  take  this  chance  “ which  the 
Supreme  Deity  has  evidently  given  in  His  pity  for 
Korea  and  His  desire  to  save  it  ” — to  go  on  his  arrival 
in  Peking  to  the  temple  of  the  Lord  of  Heaven,  to 
confer  with  the  priests,  to  examine  their  doctrine,  and 
learn  the  ceremonies  of  their  religion.  “It  is,”  he 
said,  “ a matter  of  life  and  death  : eternity  is  in  your 
hands  : do  not  treat  it  lightly.” 

The  friend  faithfully  performed  his  task.  The 
bishop  of  the  Church  at  Peking  at  this  time  was 
Alexander  de  Govea,  a Portuguese  of  the  Franciscan 
Order,  a man  scarcely  less  celebrated  for  his  piety 
and  learning  than  the  Jesuit  founder.  By  him  Seng- 
houng-I — this  was  the  friend’s  name — was  converted 
and  baptized,  and  he  returned  to  his  home  full  of  all 
the  zeal  of  a new  convert,  having  promised  to  the 
bishop  in  Peking  that  he  would  suffer  all  the  torments 
of  death  rather  than  abandon  his  faith,  and  that  he 
would  faithfully  observe  the  evangelical  laws,  among 
them  that  “ which  forbade  a plurality  of  wives.” 
Piek-I  eagerly  absorbed  the  contents  of  the  books 
which  his  friend  brought  with  him,  the  explanations 
of  the  Sacraments,  the  Catechism,  the  Gospels,  the 
lives  of  the  saints,  and  the  breviaries,  and  his  faith  in 
Christ  was  complete.  A new  life  entered  into  his 
soul,  and  he  could  not  keep  his  joy  to  himself.  His 
enthusiasm  and  his  arguments  convinced  other 
friends,  and  the  waves  of  Christianity  began  to  spread, 
not  only  among  his  friends  in  the  capital  but  beyond 
its  walls. 

Seng-houng-I — the  first  Korean  to  be  formally 
admitted  into  the  Church — received  the  baptismal 
name  of  Pierre,  “as  it  was  hoped  that  he  would  be 
the  first  stone  of  the  Church  in  Korea.”  Piek-I  had 
commenced  the  work  of  conversion,  so  when  he  was 
baptized  by  Seng-houng-I,  he  received  the  name  of 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  247 


Jean  Baptiste,  and  the  third  convert,  Kouen-I,  was 
named  Frangois  Xavier,  in  honour  of  the  first  apostle 
of  the  East.  All  three  became  zealous  propagandists, 
and  converts  flowed  to  them,  both  of  their  own  and 
of  the  lower  classes.  Their  success  was  not  less 
striking  than  that  of  the  first  Jesuits  in  Japan.  The 
condition  of  the  common  people  in  Korea,  oppressed 
beyond  human  capacity  of  endurance,  was  at  this 
time  not  unlike  that  of  the  people  in  Japan  when 
Xavier  began  to  preach.  It  was  then  the  worst 
period  of  disorder  in  the  history  of  Japan,  when  the 
sufferings  of  civil  war  were  at  their  height,  and  a 
religion  which  promised  eternal  happiness  after  a 
life  of  misery  was  irresistibly  attractive  to  the  long- 
suffering  peasants  of  both  Japan  and  Korea.  In  both 
countries  they  were  encouraged  by  the  example  of 
their  own  nobles,  who,  though  actuated  by  higher 
motives  than  perhaps  were  the  first  peasants  to 
embrace  the  faith,  still  saw  in  the  promise  of  eternal 
salvation  a reward  that  was  far  above  all  that  earth 
could  give  them,  even  when  its  gifts  were  of  the 
best. 

Christianity  enjoyed  fifty  years  of  toleration  in 
Japan,  and  it  might  possibly  have  continued  to 
enjoy  it  indefinitely  had  it  not  been  for  the  in- 
discretion of  the  missionaries.  In  Korea  persecution 
broke  on  it  at  once.  The  sympathy  of  caste  prevented 
any  interference  on  the  part  of  the  officials  with  nobles 
of  high  rank,  such  as  were  the  first  converts,  but 
in  less  than  a year  after  the  return  of  Seng-houng-I 
from  Peking  one  of  the  lower  ranks  of  officials  was 
tortured  and  banished  as  a Christian,  and  soon  after 
died  from  the  injuries  caused  by  the  torture.  He 
was  the  first  Christian  martyr  in  Korea.  His  co- 
religionists of  noble  birth  demanded  the  right  of 
sharing  his  fate,  saying  that  they  were  of  the  same 
belief  as  the  martyr  and  equally  merited  whatever 


248 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


justice  was  meted  out  to  him,  but  on  them  the  Minister 
of  Crimes  dared  not  lay  his  hand  and  he  refused 
even  to  listen  to  them.  He  was,  however,  determined 
to  suppress  the  new  religion  from  the  first,  and  a 
public  edict  was  soon  issued  against  it.  At  the  same 
time,  family  influence  was  brought  to  bear  on  all 
the  known  converts.  Fathers  and  elder  brothers  used 
all  the  authority  which  long-established  custom  vested 
in  them  to  bring  back  their  erring  wards  to  the 
ancestral  cult,  and  where  the  prospect  of  torture  and 
public  odium  had  failed  domestic  tyranny  in  some 
cases  succeeded.  It  is  sad  to  tell  that  the  two  first 
apostates,  the  two  first  to  yield  to  the  threats  and 
entreaties  of  their  relatives,  were  the  first  converts. 
Both  Seng-houng-I,  the  first  stone  of  the  Church,  and 
Piek-I,  the  inheritor  of  the  name  of  the  Baptist, 
yielded  to  the  prayers  of  their  families  and  publicly 
renounced  their  faith.  The  last  died — ^not  having 
knowm  a happy  hour  after  his  relapse — within  a year  ; 
the  first  lived  to  repent,  to  be  received  once  more 
within  the  fold,  and  again  to  recant  and  accept  offices 
which  involved  the  public  profession  of  idolatry.  He 
was  punished  by  the  contempt,  not  only  of  the  faithful 
Christians  but  by  that  of  his  fellow-heathens, 
and  the  reproach  of  having  been  the  first  to 
introduce  Christianity  into  Korea  clung  not  only  to 
him  but  to  his  descendants.  Notwithstanding  his 
apostasy,  he  did  not  escape  the  fate  of  his  more 
true  and  steadfast  fellow-converts.  On  April  8, 
i8oi,  he  was  beheaded  along  with  six  Christians. 
“ He,  the  first  to  be  baptized  ; he  who  had  brought 
baptism  and  the  gospel  to  his  countrymen,  marched 
to  death  with  martyrs,  but  was  not  a martyr  ; he 
was  beheaded  as  a Christian,  but  died  a renegade.” 
It  is  pathetic  to  read  of  the  simple  faith  of  the 
early  Christians.  They  knew  nothing  of  apostolic 
succession  or  of  the  ordination  of  priests,  but  they 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  249 


had  heard  of  and  one  of  them  had  seen  bishop  and 
priests  in  Peking,  and  they  knew  that  the  Church 
should  have  its  ministers  of  varying  rank,  its 
organisation  of  government,  its  sacraments  and 
services.  So  they  elected  a bishop  and  priests  from 
among  their  own  ranks,  and  all  the  Holy  Sacraments 
of  the  Church  were  administered  by  the  elected 
hierarchy,  according  to  the  lights  that  were  afforded 
by  the  books  in  their  possession,  and  devoutly  re- 
ceived by  all  the  converts.  But  when  their  toy 
church  had  existed  for  two  years  doubts  began  ^o 
assail  them,  and  at  great  personal  risk  one  of  their 
number  secretly  left  his  home  and  made  the  long, 
perilous,  and  arduous  journey  of  more  than  a 
thousand  miles  to  Peking  to  consult  Bishop  Govea. 
In  due  time  he  brought  back  the  Bishop’s  reply, 
written  on  silk  in  order  that  it  might  be  the  more 
easily  hidden  and  carried.  It  was  that  the  only 
Sacrament  which  the  converts  could  administer  was 
that  of  baptism.  Then  the  same  messenger  made 
the  journey  once  more,  this  time  to  beg  for  .the 
services  of  one  of  the  European  priests  to  instruct 
them  and  administer  the  Sacraments  which  they  could 
not,  and  also  to  submit  for  the  opinion  of  the  bishop 
certain  questions  of  faith.  Again  the  journey  was 
safely  performed.  A promise  was  brought  back  that 
a priest  would  be  sent  to  them  : they  were  instructed 
how  to  make  wine  from  grapes  and  all  that  was 
required  for  the  formal  celebration  of  the  Sacrament 
of  baptism  was  given  to  them — chalice,  missals,  orna- 
ments, &c.  They  were  told  at  the  same  time  that 
the  worship  of  ancestors  was  inconsistent  with  the 
sincere  profession  of  the  Christian  faith. 

The  worship  of  ancestors  is  one  of  the  cardinal 
elements  of  Confucianism,  the  recognised  religion 
of  Korea,  where  it  was  carried  to  its  extreme  extent 
and  where  it  was  also  the  foundation  of  the  strongest 


250 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


family  ties.  Its  neglect  meant  the  abandonment  of 
everything  that  the  Korean  held  most  sacred  in  the 
duty  which  he  owed  to  his  king,  his  country,  and  his 
family.  Hitherto,  the  converts,  in  their  simple  faith, 
had  united  their  old  observances  with  the  Christian 
ceremonies,  and  while  careful  of  their  duty  to  God, 
had  not  neglected  what  they  and  their  forefathers 
had  been  taught  for  countless  generations  was  their 
chief  duty  on  earth.  Now  they  were  suddenly  told 
that,  if  sincere  in  their  new  faith,  they  must  incur 
the  deepest  odium  of  their  fellow-citizens  and  the 
penalties  of  the  law,  by  abandoning  the  principal 
element  in  the  observance  of  the  old. 

When  Ricci  inaugurated  his  great  mission  in 
Peking  he  declared  that  the  worship  of  ancestors, 
which  dated  in  China  from  centuries  before  the 
Christian  era,  and  which  the  Koreans  received  from 
China,  was  not  inconsistent  with  Christianity.  He 
considered  it  to  be  merely  a civil  ceremony.  This 
was  in  keeping  with  the  policy  of  the  Jesuits,  who 
endeavoured  wherever  it  was  possible  to  reconcile 
in  their  missionary  work  native  with  Christian 
observances,  and  to  avoid  offence  against  time- 
honoured  beliefs.  Much  of  Ricci’s  success  as  a 
proselytiser  was  no  doubt  due  to  his  liberality,  which 
was  not  shared  by  the  other  sects  of  the  Roman 
Church.  Govea  was  a Franciscan.  He  did  not  gpve 
his  decision  without  due  thought,  nor  until  he  had 
consulted  all  the  oldest  and  most  able  missionaries 
in  China,  but  to  him  and  to  them  the  practice  was 
equally  abhorrent,  and  the  decision  that  it  must 
be  abandoned  by  the  Korean  Christians  was  un- 
equivocal. 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  for  a layman,  not  of  the 
Roman  Church,  to  see  how  reverence  for  parents 
and  ancestors,  even  if  carried  to  an  extreme  degree, 
can  conflict  with  an  earnest  belief  in  God,  or  how 


SKorL--THK  TKM!*LK  OK  HKAVKN*. 

{htom  SUrtcgrtifh  Cofyright,  LUtdcntvoU  & CtuUni-ooti,  London.) 


To  face  p.  J50, 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  251 


a very  few  of  the  simplest  and  briefest  observances, 
practised  nightly  before  the  tablets  which  stand  in 
the  living  room  of  every  household,  high  or  low, 
in  China,  Japan,  and  Korea,  can  constitute  such  a 
violation  of  the  Second  Commandment  as  to  merit 
banishment  from  the  Christian  fold,  but  so  it  was 
and  is  still  held  by  all  missionaries  in  the  East,  not 
those  of  the  Roman  faith  alone.  Little  more  than 
twenty  years  ago  the  practice  was  unequivocally  con- 
demned by  the  General  Conference  of  Protestant 
Missionaries  in  Shanghai,  and  Nonconformists  have 
been  no  less  rigid  in  their  attitude  towards  it,  no 
less  wanting  in  tolerance  and  liberality,  than  the 
most  devout  Catholics.  Ancestor  worship  is  the 
foundation,  not  only  of  the  religion  but  of  the  loyalty, 
patriotism,  and  of  all  the  bonds  of  the  household  life 
and  domestic  happiness  of  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  in  China,  Japan,  and  Korea.  The  reverence  and 
affection  which  it  teaches  for  all  those  who  have  gone 
before  are  the  sentiments  that  from  earliest  child- 
hood are  most  deeply  implanted  in  every  heart,  and 
they  have  done  nothing  but  good  to  the  nation,  the 
family,  and  the  individual.  It  is  always  difficult 
to  eradicate  a faith  that  has  been  held  from  child- 
hood. It  is  still  more  difficult  when  the  abandonment 
of  the  old  faith  involves  in  it  a condemnation  of  those 
who  are  held  most  dear  and  an  acceptance  of  the 
belief  that  honour  paid  to  their  memories  is  a wicked 
form  of  idolatry  that  is  odious  in  the  sight  of  God. 
The  present  writer  has  always  believed  that  this  in- 
hibition has  been  the  most  formidable  obstacle  that 
has  stood  in  the  way  of  missionary  success  in  the 
Far  East,  and  he  has  had  abundant  reason  to  view 
with  considerable  incredulity  the  assurance,  honestly 
given  by  many  of  the  best  and  greatest  missionaries 
of  the  present  day,  that  their  converts  have  entirely 
abandoned  the  practice  of  their  old  cult. 


252 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


The  results  of  Govea’s  instructions  were  disastrous 
in  Korea.  Many  recanted  who  thought  themselves 
Christians,  and  had  been  willing  to  brave  persecu- 
tion for  their  faith,  but  were  shocked  at  the  new 
limitation  that  was  imposed  on  what  was  their  second 
nature.  Many  more  complied  and  continued  firm. 
Nothing  can  be  kept  secret  in  Korea.  The  people 
are  the  most  irrepressible  gossips  in  the  world,  and 
the  news  soon  spread  that  some  among  them  were 
neglecting  their  most  sacred  duty.  Such  sacrilege 
must,  it  was  believed,  bring  misfortune  both  on  the 
family  and  on  the  nation.  In  i8oi,  the  country  was 
unhappily  visited  by  a great  drought  which  seemed 
to  verify  the  worst  predictions,  and  a storm  of  odium 
broke  on  the  Christians  that  speedily  turned  into 
active  persecution.  Many  martyrs  died  after  cruel 
tortures  which  they  bore  unflinchingly,  and  among 
the  martyrs  was  the  priest,  a young  Chinaman  named 
Tsiou,  whom  Govea  in  fulfilment  of  his  promise  had 
sent  from  Peking,  choosing  him  for  this  dangerous 
mission  in  preference  to  his  European  colleagues  for 
his  knowledge  of  Chinese  literature,  and  the  similarity 
of  his  features  to  those  of  the  Koreans,  as  well  as 
for  his  fervid  piety  and  zeal.  He  was  both  the 
first  Christian  priest  to  labour  among  the  Korean 
people  and  the  first  to  obtain  the  crown  of  martyr- 
dom. He  succeeded  in  making  his  way  to  Seoul  in 
1794,  and  there  for  sLx  months  ministered  to  the 
converts  who  thronged  to  receive  the  Sacraments  from 
him.  In  his  ignorance  of  the  customs  of  the  country, 
he  readily  received  all  who  came  to  him,  great  though 
the  crowd  was,  and  among  them  was  one  who  proved 
a traitor  and  betrayed  his  presence  to  the  authorities. 
Orders  were  given  for  his  immediate  arrest,  but  he 
was  warned  in  time  and  escaped  to  another  house 
while  a Korean  Christian  remained  in  that  which  he 
had  left,  and  tried,  when  the  officers  came,  to  pass 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  253 


himself  off  as  the  Chinese  priest  for  whom  they  were 
searching.  His  identity  was  soon  discovered,  and 
with  two  other  fellow-converts,  both  of  whom  had 
assisted  in  bringing  Tsiou  across  the  frontier,  Jhe 
was  brought  before  the  judges.  All  three  were  tor- 
tured many  times.  They  were  beaten,  their  arms  and 
legs  dislocated,  their  knees  crushed,  but  they  were 
firm  through  all  their  sufferings  and  refused  to  betray 
either  the  priest  or  any  of  their  fellow-converts. 

This  was  in  the  reign  of  King  Sunjo  (1784-1800), 
a capable  and  merciful  ruler  who  always  refused  to 
sanction  any  wholesale  persecution.  But  absolute 
though  he  was,  he  could  not  resist  the  universal 
clamour  of  his  subjects  for  the  blood  of  the  three 
tortured  converts,  and  he  was  at  last  forced  to  sign 
their  death-warrants.  The  three  were  then  beheaded, 
and  their  bodies  thrown  into  the  river,  an  indignity 
bitter  in  the  extreme  to  the  Koreans,  among  whom 
the  rites  of  burial  are  always  performed  with 
punctilious  and  solemn  ceremony.  The  priest  would 
undoubtedly  have  been  taken  and  shared  their  fate, 
had  not  the  merciful  King  ordered  his  officers  to 
moderate  their  zeal.  He  found  refuge  with  a 
Christian  lady  of  noble  birth,  who  herself  afterwards 
became  a martyr,  who  for  three  months,  unknown 
to  all  the  other  inmates  of  her  home,  kept  him  hidden 
and  fed  him  in  an  outhouse  used  for  the  storage  of 
firewood.  Then,  having  won  the  sympathy  of  her 
mother,  she  brought  him  into  the  house,  and  as  Korean 
law  held  the  house  of  a noble  inviolate,  Tsiou  lived 
there  in  safety  for  three  years,  studying  the  language 
and  performing  the  duties  of  his  office  as  far  as  his 
opportunities  permitted,  always  both  in  and  out  of 
doors  using  the  greatest  precautions  against  dis- 
covery. Some  of  the  members  and  servants  even  of 
the  family  which  sheltered  him  did  not  know  of  his 
presence. 


254 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


In  1800  King  Sunjo  died,  and  his  death  “was  a 
misfortune  to  all  his  people,  who  lost  in  him  both  a 
friend  and  a wise  and  merciful  ruler,  but  above  all 
to  the  Christians^  to  whom  the  news  of  his  death 
came  as  a thunderbolt.”  They  felt  that  their  last 
protection  against  their  persecutors  was  gone,  and 
their  fears  proved  to  be  only  too  well  founded. 

The  dead  King  was  succeeded  by  his  son,  a boy  of 
twelve  years  of  age,  during  whose  minority  his  grand- 
mother acted  as  regent.  She  was  bitterly  opposed 
to  Christianity,  and  once  the  funeral  ceremonies  of 
the  late  King,  which  lasted  five  months,  were  com- 
pleted, she  lost  no  time  in  issuing  a decree  pro- 
hibiting Christianity  throughout  the  whole  realm, 
placing  its  believers  under  the  ban  of  the  law,  order- 
ing their  arrest  wherever  found,  and  giving  full  power 
to  the  judges  to  punish  them  without  mercy.  This 
was  followed  in  the  next  year  by  a still  more  drastic 
decree,  in  which  it  was  proclaimed  that  Christians 
should  be  treated  as  rebels,  and  in  order  that  none 
should  escape,  that  all  householders  should  be  regis- 
tered in  groups  of  five,  all  the  members  of  which 
should  be  mutually  responsible  for  each  other  and 
the  headman  of  the  five  responsible  for  all. 

It  was  impossible  to  hope  that  the  Chinese  priest 
could  long  remain  hidden,  even  in  the  sanctuary  of 
a noble’s  house,  while  the  search  for  native  Christians 
was  being  so  vigorously  pursued.  It  was  known 
that  he  was  in  the  country,  and  even  under  the  late 
King  the  police  had  made  efforts  to  find  him.  Now 
their  efforts  were  redoubled.  Tsiou,  thinking  that 
the  persecution  of  the  natives  might  be  moderated  if 
he  returned  to  China  and  it  became  known  that  he 
had  done  so,  escaped  from  Seoul  and  succeeded  in 
reaching  the  frontier  town  of  Aichiu.  There  his 
conscience  smote  him.  He  was  abandoning  his  flock 
in  the  hour  of  peril.  He  returned  straight  to  Seoul, 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  255 


and  though  the  Christians  were  willing  again  to 
undergo  the  great  danger  of  hiding  him  he  refused 
to  allow  them  to  do  so,  and  going  quite  alone  to  the 
prison,  he  surrendered  himself,  saying,  “ I am  the 
priest  for  whom  you  have  been  so  long  searching  in 
vain.”  His  trial  and  condemnation  soon  followed, 
and  on  May  31,  1801,  the  day  of  the  Holy  Trinity, 
he  was  publicly  beheaded,  and  his  head  was  after- 
wards exposed  like  that  of  a common  criminal  for 
five  days. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  • it  has  been  told  how,  in 
the  year  1846,  the  Korean  Government  attempted 
to  justify  itself  to  that  of  France  for  having  put 
three  French  missionaries  to  death,  by  saying  that 
they  had  in  accordance  with  the  law  inflicted  the 
death  penalty  on  a Chinaman  who  had  been  guilty 
of  the  same  offence  as  the  French.  The  case  they 
then  referred  to  was  that  of  Tsiou,  but  boldly  as 
they  quoted  it  in  1846,  they  were  not  at  all  easy  in 
their  minds  as  to  the  responsibility  which  they  had 
incurred  to  their  suzerain  by  the  execution  of  one  of 
his  subjects.  In  accordance  with  the  terms  of  their 
convention  between  the  Empire  and  the  kingdom, 
” every  subject  of  either  found  upon  the  territory  of 
the  other  must  be  sent  back  to  his  own  Sovereign.” 
Some  of  the  Korean  ministers  wished  this  course  to 
be  taken  before  Tsiou’s  execution  ; but  the  majority, 
unable  to  reconcile  themselves  to  parting  with  the 
chief  representative  of  a religion  which  all  hated, 
voted  for  his  death,  and  persuaded  the  Queen  Regent 
to  sign  the  warrant.  When  all  was  over,  they  became 
uneasy  at  what  they  had  done,  and  caused  a report 
to  be  spread  among  their  own  people  that  Tsiou  was 
not  a Chinaman  but  a native  of  Quelpart.  When  the 
next  annual  embassy  went  to  Peking  a long  written 
explanation  was  sent  to  the  Emperor  by  the  Regent 
' Vide  p.  228. 


256 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


in  the  name  of  the  young  King,  in  which  it  was 
alleged  that  Tsiou’s  real  nationality  was  only  dis- 
closed by  his  accomplices  after  his  death  ; that  he 
was  one  of  a set  of  brigands  who  had  brought  trouble 
on  the  “ Little  Kingdom,”  and  had  been  justly 
punished  ; that  nothing  appeared  in  him  during  his 
trial,  neither  in  his  language,  his  dress,  nor  his  out- 
ward appearance,  to  show  that  he  was  not  a Korean. 

The  judges,  it  was  added,  saw  in  him  only  the 
leader  of  the  renegades  among  their  own  countrymen, 
and  it  was  as  such  that  he  was  condemned  and 
executed.  The  opening  sentences  of  the  letter  des- 
cribed both  the  fidelity  of  the  Koreans  to  the  religion 
and  morality  which  they  had  received  from  China, 
and  the  wickedness  of  the  Christians  : 

“ His  Imperial  Majesty  knows  that  since  the  day  when  the  remains 
of  the  army  of  the  Yen  retired  to  the  East,'  the  Little  Kingdom  has 
always  been  distinguished  for  its  punctuality  in  fulfilling  all 
obligations  ordered  by  rites,  justice,  and  lo}’alty,  and  for  its  general 
fidelity  and  dut}'.  This  has  in  all  ages  been  acknowledged  by  the 
Middle  Court  [the  Court  of  China] . This  kingdom,  which  has  always 
preserved  its  purity  of  manners,  esteems  above  everything  the 
doctrine  of  Confucius.  No  books  other  than  those  of  Chou-cha,  of 
Ming,  or  of  Lo ' have  ever  been  admitted  into  this  kingdom  by 
literati  or  mandarins  ; much  less  have  they  ever  been  studied  by 
them.  The  very  women  and  children  of  the  streets  and  cottages 
are  familiar  with  the  five  fundamental  duties  and  the  three  great 
cables,  the  props  of  society,  and  make  them  alone  the  ordinary  rule 
of  conduct.  All  other  doctrine  is  strange  to  the  Little  Kingdom, 
and  error  has  never  penetrated  it. 

But  about  ten  years  ago  a sect  of  monsters  appeared,  barbarous 
and  infamous  persons,  who  set  themselves  up  as  votaries  of  a 
doctrine  which  they  say  they  have  brought  from  Europe,  who 
utter  blasphemies  against  Heaven,  affect  only  scorn  for  our  learned 


' That  is,  from  the  year  1122  b.c.,  when  Ki  Tse  emigrated  to  and 
founded  Korea  on  the  fall  of  the  Yen  dynasty  in  China  (vide  p.  51). 

* The  books  of  Confucius. 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  257 


men,  rebel  against  their  prince,  stifle  all  feeling  of  filial  piety,  abolish 
sacrifice  to  ancestors  and  burn  the  memorial  tablets  ; who,  preaching 
a heaven  and  a hell,  fascinate  and  draw  to  their  side  ignorant  and 
imbecile  people  ; who  by  means  of  baptism,  efface  the  atrocities  of 
their  sect ; who  conceal  depraved  books,  and  with  witchcraft 
assemble  women  from  all  parts  and  live  like  the  brutes  and  the  birds 
of  the  poultry-}’ard.  Some  call  themselves  spiritual  fathers  (priests) 
others  devotees  to  the  religion  (Christians).  They  change  their 
names  to  take  titles  and  surnames,  thus  following  the  example  of 
the  brigands  Pe-ling  and  Houang-kin.‘  They  devote  themselves 
to  divination  and  extend  error  and  trouble  from  the  capital  to  re- 
mote provinces.  Their  doctrine  spreads  with  the  rapidity  of  fire 
and  their  followers  multiply  in  a terrifying  manner. 


The  Emperor  in  his  reply  severely  reprimanded 
the  King  for  a suggestion  in  a part  of  his  letter 
that  we  have  not  included  in  the  quotation  that 
Christianity  first  became  known  to  the  Koreans  owing 
to  attaches  of  the  annual  embassies  having  heard 
of  it  from  the  Europeans  who  were  living  in  Peking. 
“ That  is  a calumny,”  said  the  Emperor  ; ” they  must 
have  heard  of  it  from  elsewhere.  Europeans  have 
been  allowed  to  live  in  the  Mother  capital  because 
they  understand  mathematics,  and  we  apply  to  them 
to  reckon  the  time  and  observe  the  heavens.  They 
have  their  use  in  the  department  of  mathematics,  but 
they  are  not  permitted  to  communicate  with  strangers. 
These  Europeans,  crossing  the  seas  to  come  to 
Peking,  all  know  how  to  submit  themselves  to  public 
order  and  to  obey  laws.  In  more  than  one  hundred 
years  that  they  have  been  here  they  have  never 
secretly  preached  religion,  and  no  one  has  ever  been 
led  astray  by  them.”  ^ But  not  a word  was  said  in 
the  published  version  of  the  letter  as  to  the  fate  of 

' Secret  Societies  in  China. 

" In  commenting  on  this  sentence,  Dallet  says  : “ No  other 
Government  in  the  world  would  have  had  the  effrontery  to  deny 
facts  that  were  known  to  all  its  subjects.” 

17 


258 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


the  Emperor’s  own  subject,  from  which  it  was  in- 
ferred by  the  Christians,  either  that  his  Court  had 
been  mollified  by  a large  bribe,  or  that  the  full 
contents  of  the  letter  had  not  been  made  known. 
Be  the  explanation  as  it  may,  it  is  quite  evident 
that  in  executing  the  Chinese  priest  the  Koreans  felt 
that  they  had  exceeded  their  authority,  and  the  pre- 
cedent was  not  one,  as  they  afterwards  alleged  it 
to  be,  which  justified  them  in  putting  French  subjects 
to  death  without  notice  to  the  Government  of 
France. 

In  i8oi  Christianity  had  spread  largely  among  the 
lower  classes  of  the  people,  and  the  total  number  of 
believers  was  estimated  at  ten  thousand.  On  them 
the  officials  had  no  compunction  in  carrying  out  the 
orders  of  the  Regent.  They  were  arrested  every'- 
where,  thrown  into  prison,  tortured,  and  executed. 
Nor  were  the  higher  classes  spared.  Even  women 
of  noble  family  who,  according  to  Korean  law,  were 
exempt  from  every  penalty  unless  incurred  by  the 
treason  of  the  head  of  the  family,  were  dragged 
to  prison  and  beheaded,  on  one  occasion  five  suffering 
simultaneously,  among  them  the  lady  who  had 
courageously  sheltered  the  Chinese  priest.  Through- 
out the  whole  year  and  during  part  of  1802  the  exe- 
cutioners were  never  idle,  and  the  vigour  of  the 
persecution  did  not  cease  till  the  enemies  of  the 
faith  were  glutted  with  blood.  When  it  did, 
Christianity  was  ruined  in  Korea.  There  were  many 
true  believers  left,  but  their  leaders  had  all  been  killed. 
The  survivors  were  poor  and  ignorant,  scattered 
among  the  heathen,  without  communion  with  each 
other.  Almost  all  their  books  and  the  instruments  of 
service  had  been  destroyed,  or  were  buried  in  the 
earth,  or  hidden  in  holes  in  walls.  The  terror  that 
was  spread  by  the  terrible  events  of  1801  sank  into 
the  very  souls  of  the  believers,  and  none  dared  to 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  259 


practise  the  observances  of  the  Church  except  in 
the  closest  secrecy.  In  i8ii,  they  found  courage 
and  means  to  send  letters  to  the  Bishop  at  Peking, 
and  through  him  to  the  Pope,  imploring  the  aid  of 
a spiritual  director,  but  neither  Pope  nor  Bishop  could 
help  them  except  with  sympathy.  The  Pope  was 
a prisoner  at  Fontainebleau  ; the  French  Revolution 
had  deprived  the  Church  at  Peking  of  all  its  material 
resources  : it  was  now  exposed  to  persecution  in 

China  and  could  hardly  support  itself,  and  the  good 
old  Bishop,  “ his  heart  broken,”  could  not  even  give 
the  Koreans  hope  of  help  in  the  future.  In  1815, 
in  1819,  and  in  1827  there  were  more  persecutions. 
In  all  except  the  last  there  was  the  same  record 
with  all  its  ghastly  details  of  torture  and  execu- 
tion. In  the  last  the  death  penalty  was  not  inflicted. 
The  King,  following  the  example  of  his  predecessor 
Sunjo,  refused  to  sanction  the  sanguinary  measures 
of  his  ministers,  and  only  imprisonment  was  im- 
posed, and  when  five  years  later  the  country  was 
visited  by  long-continued  rains  and  consequent  floods, 
and  the  King,  following  the  usual  custom,  endeavoured 
to  propitiate  the  favour  of  Heaven  by  acts  of  mercy, 
the  Christians  were  included  in  the  general  amnesty 
to  prisoners  and  released.  Strange  to  say,  though 
the  last  persecution  was  the  shortest  (it  only  con- 
tinued for  three  months)  and  least  severe  of  all  that 
had  taken  place,  the  ratio  of  those  who  apostatised 
while  it  lasted  was  the  highest. 

Nearly  fifty  years  had  passed  since  the  first  Korean 
was  baptized  in  Peking,  and  throughout  the  whole 
of  this  long  period  the  native  Christians  had  only 
once  enjoyed  the  countenance  of  an  ordained  priest, 
and  all  their  entreaties  for  further  spiritual  guidance 
had  been  in  vain.  And  yet  though  without  priests 
and  forced  to  scatter  and  seek  shelter  in  the  lonely 
mountain  fastnesses,  they  had  clung  to  their  simple 


260 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


beliefs,  and  to  the  best  of  their  lights  had  carried 
out  the  observances  of  their  Church,  undismayed  by 
cruel  persecution  and  hideous  suffering,  long  im- 
prisonment, and  poverty  and  ruin  that  were  em- 
bittered by  the  alienation  of  relatives  and  friends. 
There  were  many  relapses  among  them,  but  they 
fade  into  insignificance  in  comparison  with  the 
numbers  of  those  who  proved  steadfast  in  the  worst 
hours  of  trial.  No  Christians — neither  in  Rome  nor 
in  Japan — have  ever  gone  through  more  or  greater 
trials  for  their  faith. 

In  Europe  the  wars  of  Napoleon  were  now  long 
over,  the  Bourbons  were  on  the  throne  of  France, 
the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope  was  restored,  and 
he  was  again  on  the  papal  throne  of  Rome.  Some 
years  had,  however,  to  elapse  before  the  Society  of 
Foreign  Missions  at  Paris,  the  Society  which,  since 
its  foundation  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
controlled  and  provided  for  all  the  Roman  mis- 
sionaries to  the  Far  East,  had  sufficiently  recovered 
from  the  ruin  brought  upon  it  by  the  confiscations  of 
the  French  revolutionaries  to  undertake  new  fields  of 
work.  All  the  funds  at  its  disposal  were  insufficient 
to  provide  the  most  frugal  support  for  those  already 
in  existence  or  to  send  new  workers,  and  it  was  not 
till  the  year  1829  that  the  Society  was  in  a position 
to  accede  to  the  urgent  representations  of  the  Pope 
and  the  pathetic  prayers  that  had  been  so  often  made 
by  the  Korean  converts.  The  last  of  these  had  been 
received  so  far  back  as  1825.  It  urged  the  Pope 
not  only  to  send  priests  but  a ship  to  the  Korean 
shores,  the  prestige  of  which  would  secure  the  liberty 
to  practise  their  religion  in  safety,  both  to  priests 
and  converts,  and  open  the  way  for  the  entry  of 
Christianity  into  Korea  by  the  sea,  “ the  way  by 
which  it  had  from  its  earliest  days  reached  the  most 
distant  countries  in  the  world.” 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  261 


“The  Koreans  are  for  the  most  part,”  it  was  said  in  the  latest 
Korean  letter,  “ ignorant  and  timid,  inclined  to  despise  and  ill  treat 
those  who  seem  to  be  more  ignorant  and  timid  than  themselves. 
But  they  are  great  lovers  of  novelties  and  judging  by  the  reports  we 
have  heard  of  the  wisdom  and  strength  of  Europeans,  Koreans  would 
regard  them  as  spirits.  If  then  a European  ship  were  to  appear 
suddenly,  our  people  would  be  too  astounded  at  first  to  know  what 
to  do,  but  once  they  learnt  the  virtue  and  strength  of  the  Westerners 
they  would  receive  them  with  kindness  and  joy.  Even  if  inclined 
to  injure  them,  they  would  do  nothing  without  first  consulting  the 
Emperor  of  China,  and  he  would  no  doubt  be  of  opinion  that  a 
European  ship  on  a foreign  shore  was  no  business  of  his.  If 
missionaries  only  were  sent  they  could  not  escape  the  vigilance  of 
the  officials  or  the  mistrust  of  the  people,  and  all  hope  of  spreading 
Christianity  would  vanish.” 

The  militant  suggestions  of  the  letter  were  not 
adopted,  but  after  inquiry  from  all  the  experienced 
missionaries  in  the  East  as  to  the  practicability  of 
opening  a mission  in  Korea,  especially  as  to  the 
possibility  of  a European  being  able  to  enter  a 
country  whose  frontier  was  jealously  guarded  against 
all  foreigners,  it  was  decided  that  a Vicar-aposto- 
lique  should  be  appointed.  Great  care  had  to  be 
taken  in  the  selection  of  the  man  best  fitted  for 
so  dangerous  an  enterprise,  but  this  difficulty  was 
solved  when  Barthelemy  Bruguiere,  a missionary  who 
had  already  laboured  for  five  years  in  Siam  and  had 
been  appointed  Coadjutor-Bishop  in  that  diocese, 
offered  himself  for  the  work.  He  was  a man  of  equal 
intelligence  and  energy  who  had  devoted  himself, 
body  and  soul,  to  his  duties,  and  he  was  at  once 
accepted  by  tfie  Pope  as  the  pioneer  of  European 
priests  in  Korea.  In  July,  1832,  he  left  Singapore 
(the  diocese  of  Siam  included  the  Straits  Settlements) 
for  his  new  work.  Another  priest  of  the  diocese, 
Jacques  Honors  Chastan,  was  eager  to  accompany 
him  but  was  told  that  he  must  wait  another  oppor- 
tunity. Help  was,  however,  provided  for  him  from 


262 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


Europe.  Two  young  Chinese  aspirants  for  the  priest- 
hood were  being  educated  at  Naples.  Both  when 
they  heard  of  the  proposed  mission  to  Korea  volun- 
teered to  accompany  M.  Bruguiere,  and  the  one  who 
was  chosen,  whose  name  was  Yu,  had  already  arrived 
in  China,  and  was  seeking  for  means  to  enter  Korea 
when  Bruguiere  sailed  from  Singapore. 

Nearly  three  hundred  years  previously  Xavier  had 
made  the  voyage  to  Japan  from  Malacca,  in  infinite 
peril  from  pirates  and  storms.  In  Japan  he  suffered 
great  privations  of  cold,  hunger,  and  fatigue,  when 
on  his  way  on  foot  from  Yamaguchi  to  Kioto,  a 
journey  of  three  hundred  miles,  which  it  took  him 
thirty  days  to  accomplish.  All  that  he  suffered  fades 
into  nothingness  when  compared  with  the  miseries 
that  in  the  nineteenth  century  attended  the  land  stages 
of  Bruguiere’s  longer  journey.  It  was  a time  of 
Christian  persecution  in  Northern  China,  and  he  had 
to  travel  disguised  as  a Chinaman.  He  could  not 
wear  the  Chinese  shoes,  so,  to  avoid  the  Chinese 
officials,  and  prevent  notice  of  his  approach  filtering 
to  Korea,  he  was  forced  to  walk  long  distances  over 
rocky  paths  and  hills  barefooted.  He  was  often 
without  food  and  could  procure  none  without  be- 
traying his  disguise.  He  was  deserted  by  guides, 
and  wandered,  lost  and  alone,  among  the  hills  and 
forests  of  Manchuria.  The  guides  who  helped  him 
almost  stifled  him  with  the  coverings  with  which  they 
hid  him  in  the  native  inns  in  the  burning  heat  of 
August,  and  on  the  roads  he  could  scarcely  breathe 
owing  to  the  hat  and  veil  in  which  they  obscured 
his  face.  He  contracted  dysentery  and  itch,  and 
suffered  intensely  from  both,  and  was  not  allowed 
to  call  a native  doctor  to  his  help,  lest  his  identity 
should  be  exposed.  Throughout  all  his  travels  his 
ignorance  of  the  language  and  customs  of  China 
caused  numerous  difficulties,  which  added  to  the 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  263 


anxiety  from  which  he  was  never  wholly  free,  but 
he  never  once  let  his  courage  fail  or  lost  his  deter- 
mination to  persevere  in  the  task  he  had  undertaken. 
Three  years  were  spent  on  the  entire  journey,  and 
the  frontier  of  Korea  was  at  last  reached,  but  he 
was  destined  not  to  cross  it.  Worn  out  with  all  the 
hardships  through  which  he  had  passed,  he  died  on 
October  13,  1835,  when  the  goal  for  the  attainment 
of  which  he  had  suffered  so  much  was  almost  within 
his  view.  Though  he  never  set  foot  in  the  country 
he  is  entitled  to  be  called  the  first  European  martyr 
of  the  Church  in  Korea. 

The  place  which  he  left  vacant  was  eagerly  occu- 
pied by  Pierre  Philibert  Maubant,  a missionary  in 
Tartary,  whose  offer  of  his  help  in  Korea  had  been 
accepted  by  Brugui^re.  He  had  followed  Bruguiere 
in  the  last  few  stages  of  his  journey  and  came  to  the 
place  where  he  died  in  time  to  celebrate  the  Burial 
Service  at  his  grave.  Then  he  resolved  to  persevere 
alone.  Five  Korean  Christians  were  awaiting 
Bruguiere  on  the  frontier.  They  met  Maubant 
instead.  Guided  by  them,  he  crossed  the  wide  strip 
of  neutral  desert  and  two  of  the  three  frozen  branches 
of  the  River  Yalu,  and  then  towards  midnight,  almost 
exhausted  with  the  fatigue  and  anxiety  of  the  last 
long  day  on  foot,  he  reached  the  third  branch,  on  the 
left  bank  of  which  was  the  Korean  frontier  guard. 
The  rest  of  the  story  may  be  told  in  his  own  words  : 

“ We  had  been  travelling  since  the  preceding  midnight  almost 
always  on  foot.  The  man  who  was  to  carry  me,  then  took  me  on 
his  back,  and  we  advanced  slowly,  crossing  the  river,  to  within 
about  a perch  from  the  gate  of  Aichiu,  where  was  the  Korean  custom 
house.  Instead  of  exposing  ourselves  to  the  danger  of  an  inspection 
and  the  questions  which  the  excited  officers  usually  put  to  each 
traveller,  we  slipped  into  a drain  pipe  constructed  in  the  town  wall. 
One  of  my  three  guides  had  already  passed  through  and  was  within 
gun  shot  in  front,  when  a dog  at  the  custom  house,  seeing  us  coming 


264 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


out  of  the  hole  began  to  bark.  Then,  I thought  to  myself,  it  is 
finished.  The  officers  will  come  ; they  will  find  us  in  a fraudulent 
act,  will  question  us  at  length,  and  without  doubt  will  recognise  me 
as  a foreigner.  Let  God's  will  be  done  ! But  God  did  not  allow 
things  to  happen  as  I feared ; we  continued  to  advance  into  the 
town  and  no  one  appeared. 

“ I thought  we  were  going  at  once  to  some  inn  or  house  where  I 
could  be  hidden,  but  not  at  all.  We  had  still  another  custom  house 
to  pass.  There  was  another  aqueduct  in  the  walls  of  the  quarter 
where  we  were  so  we  slipped  into  it.  At  the  moment  I went  in  I 
saw,  at  the  other  end,  a man  passing  with  a lamp  in  his  hand.  Again 
I thought  of  our  great  danger,  but  nothing  annoying  happened  to  us. 
At  last,  a few  steps  further  on,  I was  taken  into  a little  room  shaped 
like  a large  baker's  oven.  Here  I found  those  of  my  guides  who  had 
gone  on  in  front.  We  partook  of  a miserable  meal  of  raw  salted 
turnips  and  rice  boiled  in  water,  and  we  stretched  ourselves  out  as 
well  as  we  could,  six  of  us,  in  this  narrow  space,  to  pass  the  rest  of 
the  night.  Two  or  three  hours  later,  we  had  to  take  a second  meal 
like  the  last  and  make  a start  an  hour  before  dawn.  My  feet  were 
covered  with  blisters ; but  troubles  of  this  sort  do  not  stop  a 
missionary.  I started  on  foot  as  I had  done  the  day  before.  Two 
or  three  leagues  from  Aichiu  I found  two  other  Christians  with  three 
horses.  From  there,  I continued  iny  journe)’  chief!)’  on  horseback.” 

Once  past  the  frontier,  the  rest  of  the  •w’ay  was 
easy.  The  journey  to  the  capital  was  made  on  horse- 
back, and  there  he  found  the  native  Christians  and 
the  Chinese  priest  Yu  who  had  secretly  entered  Korea 
in  advance  of  him.  Unfortunately,  Yu  proved,  not- 
withstanding his  education  at  Naples  and  the  zeal 
which  had  first  prompted  him  to  volunteer  his  services 
for  Korea,  a very  unworthy  successor  of  the  young 
Chinese  priest  who  was  martyred  in  i8oi.  He 
abused  his  sacred  office  by  extortion  and  repeated 
violations  of  his  vow  of  chastity,  thwarted  Maubant, 
whose  coming  he  resented  as  an  encroachment  on  his 
own  sphere,  in  all  his  measures,  and  finally  had  to 
be  sent  back  to  China  under  a threat  of  excommuni- 
cation. Maubant  was  the  first  European  to  enter 
Seoul  since  the  shipwrecked  Dutchmen  were  there 


STKKKT  I\  OLO  SKori,, 

(hroni  StirfOfinif'h  Cof^rijjhl,  rntitmvott  S'  riuhruooJ,  Lcttilon.} 


To  lacc  p.  264. 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  265 


two  hundred  years  before.  Little  over  a year  later 
he  was  joined  by  Chastan,  who,  after  waiting  his 
opportunity  for  two  years,  during  which  he  laboured 
among  the  native  Christians  of  Manchuria,  passed 
the  frontier  disguised  as  a poor  man  carrying  his 
own  pack,  and  in  another  year,  on  December  1 8, 
1837,  Laurent  Marie  Joseph  Imbert,  Bishop  of  Capse 
and  Vicar-Apostolic,  also  succeeded  in  crossing  the 
frontier,  and  “ the  Korean  soil  was  for  the  first  time 
trodden  by  the  feet  of  a bishop.”  All  the  three  first 
missionaries  were  of  peasant  birth,  but  all  were  dis- 
tinguished for  their  learning  and  piety  and  for  the 
zeal  and  success  with  which  they  had  worked  for 
years  in  other  fields. 

For  two  years  all  three  laboured  assiduously,  not 
only  in  the  capital  but  in  the  provinces  both  in  the 
north  and  in  the  south.  They  made  long  and  difficult 
journeys,  enduring  constant  privations,  to  satisfy  the 
crowds  of  Christians  who  thirsted  for  the  Sacraments 
and  who  had  confessions  to  make  extending  over 
twenty,  thirty,  or  forty  years.  Korean  mourning 
lends  itself  to  the  complete  disguise  of  the  identity 
of  the  mourner.  A dress  of  unbleached  grass  cloth, 
an  enormous  hat  of  plaited  straw  many  feet  in 
circumference,  its  rims  curving  downwards,  a screen 
of  cloth  held  before  the  mouth,  and  a staff 
differentiate  the  mourner  in  such  a way  that  none 
can  recognise  him  or  mistake  him  for  other  than 
a mourner  ; and  etiquette  forbids  that  he  should 
address  or  be  addressed  by  others  in  the  streets. 
Disguised  in  this  garb,  the  priests  went  everywhere 
safe  from  all  interference  by  those  who  did  not  know 
them,  and  the  thought  of  betrayal  never  entered  the 
minds  of  their  converts.  The  condition  of  the  con- 
verts was  pitiable.  Many  of  them  were  in  prison. 
Many  more,  abandoning  homes  and  property,  had 
taken  refuge  in  barren  mountain  solitudes  where  they 


266 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


suffered  indescribable  miseries,  and  some  died  from 
cold  and  hunger,  but  where  they  were  free  from 
the  odium  and  persecution  that  their  open  neglect  of 
ancestral  worship  brought  upon  them.  To  the  dis- 
tress which  their  condition  caused  to  the  priests  was 
added  the  never-ending  anxiety  lest  the  converts 
should  be  exposed  by  discovery  to  the  terrible 
penalties  which  the  law  sanctioned  for  those  who 
practised  the  “ pernicious  doctrine.”  Every  service 
had  to  be  held,  every  Sacrament  administered,  with 
the  utmost  secrecy,  and  the  priests  were  sometimes 
unknown  even  to  some  of  the  members  of  the  families 
with  whom  they  lodged  in  their  wanderings. 

With  all  its  disabilities  their  work  flourished. 
They  had  been  told  before  they  came  that  they  would 
find  thirty  to  forty  thousand  Christians  in  Korea, 
but  if  there  ever  had  been  this  number  persecution 
and  neglect  had  so  diminished  them  that  Maubant 
found  on  his  arrival  there  were  at  the  utmost  not  more 
than  six  thousand.  At  the  close  of  1838  there  were 
more  than  nine  thousand,  and  at  the  dawn  of  the  year 
1839  the  Church  in  Korea  seemed  to  be  entering 
on  a bright  future  of  peace  and  prosperity.  ‘‘  But 
the  tree  of  faith  has  never  been  firmly  planted  in  a 
heathen  land  without  being  watered  with  blood,  and 
the  more  it  grow's  the  more  must  blood  be  given  in 
abundance  to  its  roots.” 

In  1839  the  Regent,  who  had  shovm  some  toler- 
ance, retired  from  office,  and  the  executive  fell  into 
the  hands  of  one  who  was  a venemous  enemy  to 
Christianity.  At  no  time  had  the  embers  of  perse- 
cution ceased  to  smoulder,  and  every  year,  even  those 
in  which  the  prospects  of  safety  seemed  to  be 
brightest,  had  its  isolated  instances  of  the  imprison- 
ment and  execution  of  converts  whose  position  or 
activity  brought  them  into  prominent  notice.  Now 
persecution  was  once  more  to  burst  into  violent  flames. 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  267 


and  all  the  worst  horrors  of  i8oi  were  to  be  intensified. 
The  new  Regent  lost  no  time  in  putting  his  authority 
in  force,  and  all  the  evil  passions  of  the  enemies  of 
the  faith  were  at  once  let  loose,  while  terror  produced 
many  apostates  who  purchased  their  own  safety  by 
the  betrayal  of  their  fellows.  Men,  women,  and 
children  were  arrested  wholesale,  tortured  with  beat- 
ings which  made  the  flesh  fall  off  their  bodies  ; their 
legs  were  broken  so  that  the  marrow  protruded  from 
the  bones,  and  delicate  women  of  noble  birth  were 
subjected  to  indignities  which  caused  them  to  suffer 
more  than  the  worst  physical  torture  would  have  done. 
Many  gave  way.  Some  who  had  held  a prominent 
place  among  the  believers  not  only  renounced  the 
faith  which  they  had  done  so  much  to  spread,  but, 
under  the  dictation  of  the  judges,  “ repeated  the 
foulest  imprecations  on  God,  on  the  Holy  Trinity, 
on  the  most  holy  Virgin.”  These  were  exceptions. 
The  majority  held  firm  through  every  trial,  and  many 
sought  the  glorious  crown  of  martyrdom  and  calmly 
bowed  their  heads  to  the  executioners’  swords.  In 
Japan  the  victims  of  the  persecution,  while  including 
many,  both  men  and  women,  of  high  rank,  feudal 
chiefs  of  great  principalities,  and  ladies  of  the  Court, 
were  for  the  most  part  of  the  lowest  and  poorest 
classes  who,  according  to  their  beliefs,  were  changing, 
after  one  sharp  moment  of  agonising  pain,  lives  of 
down-trodden  serfs  for  the  glories  of  paradise.  In 
Korea  the  reverse  was  the  case.  The  victims  were 
mainly  of  the  upper  classes,  who  had  all  that  they 
could  desire  on  earth — rank,  power,  wealth,  luxury, 
and  ease.  All  these  they  gladly  sacrificed,  and  under- 
went the  imprisonment,  torture,  and  shameful  deaths 
from  which  their  rank  should  have  legally  exempted 
them. 

It  is  not  possible  within  our  limits  to  relate 
the  particulars  of  individual  cases.  We  shall  only 


268 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


make  one  exception  as  an  illustration  of  all.  A 
mother  and  two  daughters  of  noble  family,  whose 
estate  was  some  distance  from  the  capital,  were  con- 
verted, but  the  husband  and  father  was  a violent 
enemy  of  Christianity,  and  they  were  therefore 
obliged  to  practise  their  religion  in  secret.  The 
eldest  daughter,  arrived  at  marriageable  age,  was 
betrothed  in  the  usual  way  by  her  father  to  a heathen, 
but  rather  than  submit  to  such  a marriage  the  girl 
pretended  lameness,  and  for  three  years  remained 
prone  on  her  bed.  Then  the  intended  bridegroom, 
weary  of  waiting,  married  another.  The  second  sister 
in  her  turn  was  betrothed  in  like  manner.  She  wished 
to  preserve  her  virginity,  and  so  she  fled  from  her 
home,  and  to  prevent  any  search  being  made  for  her, 
she  stained  her  clothes  with  blood,  tore  them  in 
tatters,  and  scattered  the  pieces  in  the  thickets  near 
her  home.  Her  parents  thought  she  had  been 
devoured  by  a tiger,  and  mourned  for  her  as  dead. 
Both  sisters  took  refuge  with  an  aunt  in  the  capital, 
also  a Christian,  and  within  a few  months  the  mother 
was  secretly  told  of  their  safety.  The  father,  seeing 
that  her  grief  had  ceased,  begged  her  to  hide  nothing 
from  him,  and  when  he  heard  all  he  forgave  his 
daughters  and  promised  to  thwart  their  faith  no  more. 
They  were  soon  visited  by  their  mother,  and  mother 
and  aunt,  also  sisters,  the  two  daughters,  and  two 
other  women,  one  of  whom  was  well  bom  like  them- 
selves, whom  the  aunt  supported  as  Christians,  were 
all  together  in  one  house.  They  heard  of  the  martyr- 
dom of  other  Christian  women,  and  all  six,  eager 
to  follow  such  an  example  and  give  their  lives  for 
Christ,  resolved  to  surrender  themselves  to  the 
authorities. 

The  judge  of  the  Criminal  Court  was  astounded 
at  their  action.  He  besought  them  to  renounce  their 
errors,  and  when  they  refused  they  were  flogged  and 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION 


269 


remitted  to  prison.  Five  days  afterwards  they  were 
again  brought  before  the  court,  and  the  judge  asked 
them  whether,  “ having  tasted  the  sufferings  of  prison, 
they  were  now  of  a better  frame  of  mind.”  ” How 
can  we  say  one  thing  to  the  judge  to-day  and  the 
opposite  to-morrow?  ” was  the  reply  of  all.  The 
judge  endeavoured  to  argue  with  them,  to  overcome 
their  firmness,  first  by  gentleness,  then  by  threats, 
and  finally  by  further  tortures,  but  all  were  in  vain. 
They  were  again  all  remitted  to  prison,  this  time 
to  the  common  gaol  for  thieves,  where,  after  having 
suffered  much  from  hunger  and  thirst,  and  from  the 
insanitary  surroundings  to  which  they  were  entirely 
unused,  one  died  of  the  putrid  gaol  fever.  The  others 
were  beheaded. 

During  the  first  stages  of  the  persecution  the  three 
missionaries  were  hidden  by  their  followers  in 
different  secluded  parts  of  the  country,  the  Bishop  in 
a lonely  village  on  the  coast,  lying  in  a valley  that  was 
equally  obscured  from  passing  boats  and  wayfarers 
on  land.  A boat  was  kept  in  readiness  for  him,  so 
that  if  the  contingency  arose  he  could  escape  by  sea. 
Gradually  it  leaked  out  from  apostatising  prisoners 
that  there  were  three  foreigners  in  the  land,  and  all 
the  energies  of  the  police  were  vainly  exerted  in 
the  efforts  to  trace  them.  The  Bishop’s  mitre,  the 
mission  chest,  and  other  evidence  were  found,  but  the 
three  foreigners  were  securely  hidden,  and  their  re- 
treats were  known  only  to  a few  of  the  converts. 
When  the  persecution  was  at  its  height,  and  the  news 
came  to  the  Bishop  of  all  that  his  people  were  suffer- 
ing he  determined  to  surrender  himself  and  to  send 
the  two  priests  out  of  the  country,  hoping  thereby 
that,  vengeance  having  been  taken  on  the  principal 
foreign  offender,  the  natives  would  be  spared.  On 
July  29th  all  three  met  at  great  peril,  and  th,e 
two  priests  then  refused  to  obey  their  Bishop,  either 


270 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


to  forsake  their  people  or  to  submit  the  boatmen, 
who  might  have  helped  to  land  them  on  the  coast 
of  China,  to  the  penalties  which  they  would  incur  by 
doing  so.  The  three  separated,  only  to  be  united 
again  when  they  appeared  before  the  judges.  On 
the  morning  of  August  loth  the  Bishop  celebrated 
his  last  Mass,  and  then,  alone  and  unattended,  went 
to  the  place  where  he  knew  the  police  were  and  there 
surrendered  himself.  He  was  bound  with  the  red 
ropes  that  were  used  to  strangle  criminals,  brought 
to  the  capital,  and  when  he  refused  to  disclose  the 
hiding-place  of  the  two  priests  subjected  to  the 
torture  “ bending  of  the  bones.”  ' 

The  priests  were  penniless.  The  mission  funds  had 
been  taken  with  the  chest  : the  converts  around  them 
were  too  poor  to  help  them,  all  had  been  reduced 
to  indigence,  and  they  had  to  beg  their  daily  bread 
in  imminent  danger  of  detection.  They  had  obeyed 
the  orders  which  their  superior  had  given  them  at 
their  last  meeting  to  continue  their  hiding  till  they 

‘ There  were  three  varieties  of  this  torture.  In  the  first,  the  knees 
and  the  two  big  toes  were  tightly  bound  together  and  two  sticks 
were  thrust  into  the  space  between  the  knees  and  toes.  The  sticks 
were  then  pulled  in  opposite  directions  until  the  bones  of  both 
legs  were  bent  outwards  like  a bow,  after  which  they  were  allowed 
to  return  slowly  to  their  original  shape.  In  the  second,  only  the 
toes  were  tied  together.  A large  wedge  of  wood  w’as  then  placed 
between  the  legs.  Ropes  were  passed  round  each  knee,  and  the 
ropes  were  pulled  in  opposite  directions  by  two  men  and  the  knees 
forced  inw’ards  till  the  joints  of  the  two  knees  touched.  In  the 
third,  “ the  dislocation  of  the  arms,”  the  arms  were  tied  below  the 
elbows  and  behind  the  back,  and  the  shoulders  were  forced  towards 
each  other  by  two  large  sticks  used  as  levers.  The  arms  were  then 
untied  and  the  executioner,  placing  his  foot  on  the  chest,  pulled  the 
arms  towards  him  until  the  bones  resumed  their  former  position. 
When  the  torturers  were  experienced  at  their  work  they  were  able 
to  carry  it  out  in  such  a way  that  the  bones  only  bent,  but  if  they 
were  novices,  the  bones  broke  at  the  first  pressure. 


THE  FIRST  PERSECUTION  271 


heard  from  him  again.  Just  before  his  arrest  he 
sent  Maubant  a few  lines  in  Latin.  “ The  good 
shepherd  gives  his  life  for  his  sheep  : give  youn- 

selves  to  the  police,”  and  Maubant  forwarded  the 
letter  to  his  colleague.  Twelve  days  passed  before 
they  could  meet.  Then  both  surrendered,  and  in 
a few  days  all  three  were  before  the  judges.  They 
were  bastinadoed  and  beaten,  each  receiving  seventy 
blows  from  the  cudgel  before  the  sentence  of  death 
was  passed  on  them.  At  last  on  September  21st 
they  were  carried  in  chains  to  the  execution-ground, 
their  hands  bound  behind  their  backs,  with  an  escort 
of  more  than  a hundred  soldiers. 

“On  the  ground  a stake  had  been  planted  from  the  top  of  which 
floated  a flag,  embroidered  with  the  .sentence  of  the  condemned. 
When  they  arrived  they  were  at  once  stripped  of  their  garments,  only 
their  drawers  being  left.  Then  the  soldiers  bound  their  hands  in 
front  of  their  chests,  passed  long  staves  under  their  arms,  and  stuck 
arrows  through  their  ears,  and  after  sprinkling  their  faces  with  water 
powdered  them  with  lime.  Six  men  then  carried  each  by  the  staves 
under  their  arms  three  times  round  the  whole  ground,  amidst  the 
derision  and  coarse  gibes  of  the  crowd.  At  last  they  were  made  to 
kneel  and  a dozen  soldiers  ran  round  them  swords  in  hands,  in  mock 
combat,  giving  each  of  the  kneeling  priests  a cut  from  the  sabre  as 
they  passed.  Chastan  at  the  first  blow,  which  merely  grazed  his 
shoulder,  instinctively  rose  but  immediately  fell  again  on  his  knees. 
Imbert  and  Maubant  never  moved.  When  all  was  over,  the  bodies 
were  exposed  for  three  days,  and  then  buried  in  the  sand  on  the 
river  bank.” 


A watch  was  kept  by  disguised  police  lest  they 
should  be  removed,  but  twenty  days  later  seven  or 
eight  Christians,  resolved  to  brave  death  if  they  failed, 
succeeded  at  a second  attempt  in  raising  the  bodies, 
and  having  placed  them  in  coffins,  reinterred  them  in 
new  graves  on  a hill  about  ten  miles  from  the  capital, 
and  there  they  rest  till  this  day.  The  sacrifice  was 
in  vain.  The  persecution  continued  with  all  its 


•272 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


bitterness  both  in  the  capital  and  in  the  provinces, 
and  till  the  end  of  the  year  executions  followed 
each  other  in  rapid  succession.  It  was  only  when 
the  judges  were  sated  with  blood,  when  all  the 
Christians  who  had  not  died  were  in  prison,  exiled, 
or  scattered  in  the  mountainSj  that  it  ceased. 

Its  ultimate  results  were  widely  different  to  those 
which  were  the  object  of  the  Korean  ministers.  The 
comparison  may  be  frivolous,  but  it  is  so  d propos 
that  it  may  perhaps  be  pardoned.  “ Made  in 
Germany  ” gave  to  the  industrial  products  of 
Germany  an  advertisement  which  largely  increased 
their  consumption  in  England — the  very  last  result 
foreseen  by  the  legislators  responsible  for  it.  So  it 
was  with  Christianity  in  Korea  : — 

“ From  the  highest  ministers  of  state  down  to  the  lowest  servant 
of  the  prisons,  judges,  magistrates,  nobles,  literati,  commoners, 
police,  and  executioners,  in  the  most  remote  districts  as  w’ell  as  in  the 
capital,  all  heard  of  Christianity,  all  learned  something  of  its 
principal  dogmas.  The  seed  of  the  Word  of  God,  was  carried  by 
the  tempest  to  the  four  winds  of  heaven  and  who  shall  say  in  how 
many  souls  the  fruit  of  salvation  sprang  from  the  seed  thus  sown  ? 
At  any  rate,  from  this  time  Koreans  ceased  to  despise  Christians  and 
their  doctrine.  There  was  no  diminution  in  the  hostility  of  the 
Government ; but  public  opinion  gave  their  due  to  the  charity, 
modesty,  patience,  good  faith,  to  all  the  virtues,  of  which  the 
converts  had  given  so  man)'  striking  examples.”  ‘ 


* All  the  quotations  both  in  this  and  in  the  succeeding  chapter 
are,  where  not  otherwise  stated,  taken  from  the  “ Histoire  de 
I'Eglise  de  Coree.” 


CHAPTER  XIII 


CHRISTIANITY — PERSECUTION  AND  TOLERATION 

The  news  of  the  death  of  the  three  missionaries 
was  slow  in  reaching  the  outside  world.  Uneasiness 
was  felt  in  the  Church  in  China  when,  throughout 
the  year  1840,  no  word  came  from  them,  but  two 
years  had  passed  ere  the  worst  fears  were  confirmed. 
Three  new  missionaries — Jean  Joseph  Ferreol,  a native 
of  Avignon,  Ambroise  Maistre,  of  Annecy,  and  Marie 
Antoine  Nicholas  Daveluy — had  resolved  to  devote 
their  lives  to  Korea,  and  when  the  death  of  Imbert 
was  known,  the  first  was  consecrated  as  Bishop  of  the 
vacant  diocese.  In  the  meantime  the  Opium  War 
of  1842  had  taken  place,  and  the  military  might  of 
China  had  been  shattered  to  pieces.  Hongkong  was 
ceded  to  Great  Britain  ; Nanking,  the  ancient  capital 
of  the  south,  was  only  saved  from  capture  by  a treaty 
of  peace  ; and  five  great  cities  of  China  were  open 
to  foreign  trade  and  residence  under  conditions  which 
provided  fully  for  the  security  of  life,  property,  and 
religion.  The  Koreans  slowly  and  vaguely  heard  of 
the  humiliation  of  their  great  suzerain,  but  Korea 
was  still  left  closed  and  unassailed,  was  still  obdur- 
ately determined  to  retain  her  conservative  policy 
of  isolation.  For  three  years  the  three  new  mis- 
sionaries vainly  sought  a way  into  their  sphere  of 
work.  Ferreol  with  great  toil  made  his  way  through 
the  almost  unknown  wilds  of  Manchuria  in  the  hope 
of  passing  the  north-east  frontier  at  Hunchun,  but 
he  found  the  guards  there  no  less  strict  than  at 

18 


273 


274 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


Aichiu  in  the  north-west,  and  he  had  to  make  his 
long  journey  back  again  to  await  another  opportunity. 

Some  years  before,  three  young  and  promising 
proselytes  had  been  smuggled  out  of  the  country  and 
sent  by  Imbert  to  study  for  the  priesthood  at  Macao. 
One  of  them  was  Andrew  Kim,  who  amply  repaid 
all  the  expense  and  trouble  that  had  been  expended 
on  his  behalf.  He  was  not  only  a devout  servant 
of  the  Church,  but  a fearless,  enterprising,  and  re- 
sourceful man.  He  was  the  companion  and  guide 
of  Ferreol  in  his  efforts  to  cross  the  frontier,  and 
when  they  failed,  he,  by  his  Bishop’s  directions,  evaded 
the  guards  and  secretly  returned  to  Seoul  alone. 
There,  weary  of  waiting  for  the  spiritual  assistance 
of  which  his  fellow-Christians  had  none  for  six  years, 
he  conceived  a bold  plan,  one  full  of  physical  peril, 
which  only  undaunted  courage  could  have  faced.  He 
purchased  a small  fishing-boat  for  146  dollars,  and 
after  much  persuasion  he  induced  eleven  fellow- 
Christians,  all  fathers,  sons,  or  relatives  of  martyrs, 
to  embark  with  him.  Only  four  of  them  were  fisher- 
men, one  was  a house  carpenter,  and  the  rest  peasants, 
and  not  one  of  them  had  ever  been  on  the  high  sea. 
None  of  them  knew  anything  of  navigation,  and  they 
had  to  trust  themselves  to  the  pilotage  of  the  clerical 
student  who  had  passed  all  his  life  in  a monastery. 
With  such  a crew  Kim  resolved  to  make  his  way  in 
an  open  boat  over  one  of  the  most  stormy  and  fog- 
ridden  seas  in  the  world  to  Shanghai,  a voyage  of 
fully  five  hundred  miles.  The  legal  were  not  less  than 
the  physical  perils.  China  had  agreed  by  treaty  to 
return  to  Korea  all  Korean  sailors  who  landed  on 
her  coast,  and  those  who  were  thus  returned  were 
tried  and,  if  found  guilty  of  wilfully  leaving  their 
country,  were  punished  with  death. 

The  voyage  realised  in  its  perils  all  its  worst  antici- 
pations. For  three  days  the  little  boat  was  help- 


PERSECUTION  AND  TOLERATION  275 


lessly  tossed  on  the  mountainous  sea  in  a storm 
of  wind  and  rain  : sails,  rudder,  provisions,  and 

clothing  were  all  swept  away,  and  every  moment  was 
expected  to  be  the  last.  When  the  storm  subsided 
the  plight  of  the  crew  was  desperate.  The  boat 
was  a helpless  wreck,  and  for  three  days  they  had 
neither  food  nor  water.  Many  Chinese  junks  passed 
them  but  took  no  notice  of  their  signals  of  distress. 
At  last  one  from  Canton  took  pity  on  them  and 
agreed,  for  a promise  of  i,ooo  dollars,  to  tow  them 
to  Shanghai.  There  were  more  perils  to  be  overcome, 
but  they  reached  Wosung,  the  port  at  the  entrance 
of  the  tributary  of  the  Yangtsze  on  which  Shanghai 
lies.  They  were  quickly  boarded  by  the  Chinese 
officials  of  the  port,  to  whom  they  represented  them- 
selves as  castaways. 

They  would  probably  have  met  with  little  mercy 
from  the  Chinese,  who,  faithful  to  their  treaty  obliga- 
tions, would  have  arrested  and  sent  back  the  whole 
crew  to  Korea  by  land.  But  the  British  fleet  was  at 
anchor  at  Wosung.  Kim,  on  his  arrival,  had  taken 
his  anchorage  right  in  the  centre  of  the  British  ships, 
and  the  interest  of  the  officers  was  keenly  stirred  in 
the  strange  craft,  the  like  of  which  they  had  never 
seen  before.  It  was  still  more  keenly  stirred  when  they 
heard  the  details  of  the  adventurous  voyage  and  its 
object  from  the  accomplished  and  highly-educated 
gentleman,  able  to  speak  and  write  equally  well  in 
Latin  and  French,  whom  they  discovered  in  the 
apparently  poor,  ragged,  half-starved  fisherman. 
Chinese  officials  at  that  time  and  for  many  years 
afterwards  entertained  a wholesome  respect  for  the 
civil  and  naval  representatives  of  Great  Britain,  and 
when  they  found  that  the  protection  both  of  the 
British  Consul  at  Shanghai  and  of  the  naval  officers 
was  given  to  the  destitute  Korean  they  interfered 
with  him  no  more.  It  was  a long  cry  to  Korea.  The 


276 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


prospect  of  ever  being  called  upon  to  answer  for 
any  failure  to  discharge  their  treaty  obligations  to 
that  country  was  remote.  The  British,  who  insisted 
on  the  humane  treatment  of  sailors  in  distress,  were 
present  and  active.  It  was  best  to  choose  the  least 
of  two  evils  ; and  Kim,  landed  at  Shanghai  by  British 
officers  in  one  of  their  own  boats,  and  there  taken 
into  the  care  of  the  British  Consul,  was  allowed  to 
repair  and  re-provision  his  boat,  all  the  funds  he 
required,  both  for  these  purposes  and  to  discharge 
his  obligation  to  the  Cantonese  sailoi^  who  had  towed 
him,  being  provided  by  the  Roman  Catholic  mission 
in  Shanghai. 

Kim  had  his  reward.  Ferreol  hastened  from 
Macao  to  Shanghai,  and  his  first  act  was  to  ordain 
Kim  to  the  priesthood,  to  consecrate  the  first  native- 
born  priest  of  Korea.  It  was  on  Sunday,  August  17, 
1845,  that  the  ceremony  was  performed,  and  in 
another  fortnight  everything  was  ready.  The  return 
voyage  to  Korea  was  begun,  but  this  time  Ferreol 
and  Daveluy,  who  were  embarked  with  great  secrecy 
in  the  darkness  of  night,  shared  its  dangers.  Ferreol, 
in  one  of  his  subsequent  letters,  described  the  boat  : 

“ She  was  twenty-five  feet  long,  nine  feet  wide,  seven  feet  deep. 
Not  a nail  had  been  used  in  building  her  ; only  pegs  held  the  boards 
together  : there  was  no  tar,  no  caulking,  the  Koreans  being  ignorant 
of  all  these  improvements.  To  two  masts  of  an  immoderate  height 
were  fastened  two  sails  of  straw  mats,  badlj’  sewn  together.  The  fore 
part  of  the  boat,  occupying  a third  of  its  entire  length,  was  open  as 
far  as  the  hold.  It  was  there  that  the  capstan  was  placed,  surrounded 
with  a thick  rope  made  of  plaited  grass,  half  rotten,  which  was 
covered  with  fungus  in  wet  weather.  At  the  end  of  this  rope  was 
bound  an  anchor  of  wood,  our  hope  of  safety.  The  deck  was  formed 
partly  of  mats,  partly  of  boards  laid  side  by  side  without  fastenings 
of  any  kind.  Add  to  that  three  openings  from  the  deck  into  the 
cabin  in  the  stern.  When  it  rained  or  when  the  waves  broke  over 
the  bulwarks,  not  a drop  of  water  was  lost.  1 1 had  to  be  received 
on  the  back  and  then  jerked  off  on  one’s  arms.” 


PERSECUTION  AND  TOLERATION  277 


It  was  on  September  i,  1845,  that  they  sailed  in 
this  frail  craft.  On  October  12th  they  succeeded 
in  landing  on  a lonely  island,  and  thence,  disguised 
in  mourning,  both  priests  made  their  way  into  the 
country,  Ferreol  proceeding  to  the  capital.  The 
brave  and  faithful  Kim  was  soon  added  to  the  list  of 
martyrs.  Within  less  than  a year  from  his  return 
to  his  native  land  he  was  detected  in  communication 
with  the  Chinese  fishermen  who  annually  visited 
the  coast  of  Korea.  They  were  never  permitted  to 
land,  and  any  Korean  who  communicated  with  them 
on  sea  was  punished  with  death.  Kim  tried  to  induce 
them  to  give  passages  to  new  missionaries.  He  was 
seen  and  arrested,  and  on  his  trial  it  was  disclosed 
that  he  was  a Christian.  He  gloried  in  it  before 
the  judges,  refused  all  inducements  to  recant,  and 
then,  after  the  usual  torture,  he  was  executed  on 
September  16,  1846,  “as  an  enemy  to  the  State,”  in 
the  same  way  as  had  been  the  three  European  priests. 

When  the  French  frigates  made  their  ill-fated  visit  ‘ 
to  the  Korean  coast  in  1846  they  brought  with  them 
P^re  Maistre  and  a young  Korean  named  Tsoi,  the 
second  of  the  three  proselytes  who  had  been  study- 
ing for  the  priesthood  at  Macao.  Both  hoped  that 
they  would  be  able  to  enter  Korea,  if  not  openly  under 
the  aegis  of  the  French  flag,  secretly  during  the 
frigates’  stay  on  the  coast.  The  wreck  and  the  subse- 
quent close  surveillance  to  which  all  the  crews  were 
subjected  spoiled  their  hopes,  and  they  were  obliged 
to  return  to  Shanghai  with  the  rest.  They  wanted 
to  remain  at  all  hazards,  but  the  French  Commandant 
refused  to  be  party  to  the  inevitable  perils  to  which 
they  would  be  exposed.  Tsoi  had  given  his  services 
as  interpreter  to  the  French  officers  in  all  their 
negotiations  with  the  Koreans,  not  openly  as  a 
Korean,  but  disguised  as  a Chinaman,  unable  to  speak 
' Vide  p.  226. 


278 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


or  understand  the  Korean  language  but  able  to  com- 
municate in  the  ideographs  which  form  the  common 
system  of  writing  of  both  countries.  The  position 
was  an  interesting  one.  Facing  the  Koreans  was 
the  young  fugitive  yearning  after  a long  absence 
to  speak  in  his  o\vn  language  once  more,  but  not 
daring  to  expose  himself  to  certain  detection,  to  the 
ruin  of  all  his  hopes,  by  uttering  a single  word  ; 
listening  to  the  discussions  which  took  place  between 
the  officials  before  they  replied  to  the  French  officers 
and  maintaining  the  appearance  of  ignorance  until  they 
had  put  what  they  thought  proper  in  writing  ; writing, 
in  his  turn,  replies  that  were  ready  on  the  tip  of  his 
tongue  for  verbal  expression  ; anxious  with  a sickening 
longing  for  news  of  his  fellow-Christians,  both  of  the 
priests  and  of  his  own  countrymen,  yet  not  daring  to 
put  a single  direct  question  in  regard  to  them.  At 
last  he  did  ask  one  officer  if  there  were  any  Christians 
remaining  in  Korea,  and  if  the  King  still  persecuted 
them.  “ Yes,”  was  the  reply,  “ we  are  determined 
to  make  an  end  of  this  wretched  sect  and  to  put  all 
Christians  whom  we  can  find  to  death.”  Once  he 
found  a native  Christian  by  tracing  on  the  palm  of 
his  hand  the  Chinese  ideographs  for  Jesus  and  Mary 
and,  though  the  presence  and  watchfulness  of  other 
Koreans  prevented  any  but  the  most  guarded  con- 
versation, he  hoped  through  this  convert  to  find  the 
means  of  getting  away  from  the  island  in  which  he 
was  interned  with  the  shipwrecked  Frenchmen  and 
reaching  the  main  land.  But  the  convert  never 
appeared  again,  and  the  vigilance  of  the  guards 
around  the  island  both  by  night  and  by  day  rendered 
further  communication  impossible. 

It  was  not  till  five  years  after  their  arrival  that 
Ferreol  and  Daveluy  were  joined  by  Maistre,  who 
at  last  succeeded  in  landing  in  the  south  from  a 
Chinese  junk,  and  for  three  more  years  these  three 


PERSECUTION  AND  TOLERATION  279 


missionaries  carried  on  their  work  in  the  midst  of 
the  same  dangers  and  privations  that  were  suffered 
by  their  martyred  predecessors.  Then  Ferreol  died, 
no  less  a martyr  than  they,  though  not  by  the  execu- 
tioner’s sword.  Maistre  died  in  1857,  but  now  that 
the  way  to  Korea  by  sea  had  been  successfully  ex- 
ploited, the  places  of  those  who  died  were  more  than 
filled  by  new  workers.  Simeon  Francis  Berneux  was 
consecrated  bishop  in  place  of  Ferreol,  and  with  two 
priests,  Michel  Alexandre  Petitnicholas  and  Charles 
Antoine  Pourthie,  also  succeeded  in  landing  from  a 
Chinese  junk  about  forty-five  miles  from  the  capital. 
They  were  afterwards  followed  by  other  priests, 
Feron,  Aumaitre,  Breteni^res,  Dorie,  Landre,  Joano, 
Ridel,  Calais,  Beaulieu,  and  Huin.  In  the  year  1859 
there  were  16,700  Christians,  and  from  that  year 
onward  till  1866  their  number  steadily  increased, 
the  priests  working  among  them,  always  in  secrecy 
and  disguise,  their  presence  not  unknown  but  winked 
at  by  the  authorities.  It  was  not  from  the  authorities 
that  priests  and  converts  now  suffered.  The  sword 
of  the  executioner  was  no  longer  busy,  but  both 
priests  and  converts  were  regarded  by  tlie  native 
heathen  with  “ Satanic  hatred,”  and  the  local  persecu- 
tions of  isolated  Christian  communities,  instituted  and 
carried  out,  not  by  the  officials  but  by  ordinary 
citizens,  were  hardly  less  bitter  to  bear  than  the 
more  fatal  methods  of  the  Government  in  former 
days. 

Events  outside  Korea  wakened  the  minds  of  her 
Governors  to  the  fact  that  it  might  not  always  be 
prudent  to  torture  or  murder  Europeans  found  within 
her  jurisdiction,  even  though  their  presence  and 
objects  were  contrary  to  the  national  law.  Peking 
was  taken  by  the  allies,  and  the  Emperor  of  China 
was  compelled  to  seek  safety  in  an  ignominious  flight  ; 
his  great  summer  palace,  the  splendour  of  which  was 


280 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


famed  in  Korea,  was  ruthlessly  sacked  ; and  peace 
was  purchased  by  him  with  a heavy  indemnity  and 
the  grant  of  full  liberties  to  Christianity  throughout 
all  his  Empire.  Russia  tricked  the  humiliated  and 
crushed  Emperor  into  the  cession  of  the  great  Usuri 
territory  in  the  east  of  Asia  and  was  now  Korea’s 
immediate  neighbour  on  her  north-east  frontier  ; and 
all  three  powers,  Britain,  France,  and  Russia,  were 
giving  signs,  unmistakable  to  the  Korean  embassies 
at  Peking,  signs  still  more  unmistakable  from  the 
occasional  cruises  of  their  warships  on  Korean  coasts, 
that,  if  cause  were  given  them,  they  would  not  be 
unready  to  deal  with  the  vassal  kingdom  as  they 
had  done  with  the  suzerain  Empire. 

In  1863,  the  King  died.  As  is  told  in  another 
chapter,  he  was  succeeded  by  a boy  who  was  under 
the  control  of  his  grandmother  as  Regent.  She  was 
soon  replaced  in  that  office  by  the  new  King’s  father, 
the  Tai  Won  Kun,  and  the  party  in  the  State  which 
had  from  the  first  shown  itself  most  hostile  to 
Christians,  which  was  mainly  responsible  for  the 
persecution  of  1801,  again  came  into  power.  The 
Tai  Won  Kun  was  not  unfavourably  disposed 
towards  either  the  missionaries  who  he  knew  were 
in  the  country  or  their  religion,  and  had  even  in- 
directly sounded  the  Bishop  as  to  the  influence  he 
could  possibly  exercise  to  prevent  the  Russians  in- 
sisting on  the  demand  which  they  had  made  to  open 
commercial  relations  with  Korea,  promising  that  if 
he  succeeded  religious  liberty  would  be  accorded  as 
his  reward.  On  the  other  hand,  petitions  flowed  in  on 
the  new  Government,  in  which  it  was  urged  to  revert 
to  the  purity  of  ancient  customs  and  to  destroy  the 
Christian  religion  to  its  very  roots.  Drought,  followed 
by  excessive  rain  and  violent  autumnal  storms,  des- 
troyed the  harvest  and  caused  a famine  in  the  winter 
of  1865,  and  heretofore  famine  had  always  increased 


PERSECUTION  AND  TOLERATION  281 


the  hatred  to  the  Christians,  whose  “ pernicious 
doctrine  ” was  supposed  to  have  contributed  to  the 
ills  of  the  country,  and  who,  when  want  came,  were 
always  fair  subjects  for  plunder  and  spoliation.  Still 
all  went  well.  Conversions  increased  in  the  provinces, 
even  among  the  rough  and  uncouth  inhabitants  of 
the  north  ; the  priests  went  their  rounds  throughout 
the  whole  country  without  interference,  and  in  a few 
instances  openly  celebrated  the  Sacraments.  But  the 
warning  whispers  of  the  coming  tempest  were  audible, 
and  with  all  their  realised  triumphs  the  hopes  of 
the  missionaries  were  smothered  in  uneasiness 
w'hen  they  thought  of  what  1866  might  bring  in  its 
train.  Their  worst  anticipations  were  more  than 
realised. 

In  January  a Russian  warship  appeared  at  Gensan, 
and  the  commander  presented  a letter  in  which  liberty 
of  trade  and  residence  was  imperatively  demanded 
for  Russian  merchants.  It  also  intimated  that  if 
the  demand  was  not  granted  Russian  troops  would 
cross  the  frontier  to  enforce  it.  The  reply  was  that 
Korea  was  a vassal  of  China,  and  could  enter  into 
no  relations  with  any  other  nation  without  the 
Emperor’s  permission,  but  that  an  extraordinary 
ambassador  would  be  immediately  sent  to  Peking 
to  inquire  as  to  his  wishes.  Court  and  Ministry  were 
deeply  moved  by  this  event,  and  while  their  perplexity 
was  at  its  height  some  Christian  nobles  of  Seoul,  not 
in  other  respects  very  earnest  in  their  religion,  but 
members  of  families  that  had  fallen  in  the  previous 
persecutions,  thought  they  saw  an  opportunity  of 
winning  liberty  for  their  co-religionists  and  fame  and 
honour  for  themselves.  They  concocted  a letter  to 
the  Regent  in  which  they  urged  that  the  only  means 
of  resisting  Russian  aggression  were  to  be  found  in 
an  alliance  with  France  and  England,  and  that  such 
an  alliance  could  easily  be  made  through  the  good 


282 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


offices  of  the  French  Bishop  in  Korea.  The  letter, 
drawn  up  with  the  want  of  tact  that  is  natural  to 
ill-informed  people,  was  at  first  received  favourably 
by  the  Regent,  and  for  a time  it  was  thought  that 
Christianity  would  be  freed,  and  the  Christians, 
“ drunk  with  joy,”  spoke  of  building  in  Seoul  a 
cathedral -worthy  of  the  capital.  Their  joy  was  short- 
lived. The  dominant  party  at  Court  was  still  bitterly 
hostile,  and  time  and  time  again  had  urged  the  issue 
of  new  prohibitory  edicts.  Nothing  was,  they 
now  said,  to  be  feared  from  the  Russians.  Their 
warship  was  gone,  and  their  troops  had  not  crossed 
the  frontier  : — 

“ On  the  other  hand,  the  Korean  embassy,  which  had  left  for 
Peking  in  December,  1865,  had  just  sent  a letter  in  which  it  was  said 
that  the  Chinese  were  putting  the  Europeans  who  were  scattered 
through  the  country  to  death.  This  letter  reached  Seoul  towards  the 
end  of  January.  It  was  like  oil  thrown  on  fire.  The  four  principal 
ministers  loudly  voiced  their  disapproval  of  the  Regent’s  behaviour  to 
the  Bishop.  “ Hatred  to  the  Europeans  !”  they  cried.  “ No  alliance 
with  them  or  our  kingdom  will  be  done  for.  Death  to  all  the 
Western  savages  ! Death  to  all  Christians  ! ” The  Regent  reminded 
them  of  tlie  Franco-British  expedition  to  China,  of  the  danger  to 
which  such  behaviour  would  expose  them,  of  the  possible  invasion 
of  Korea.  “No,”  was  the  answer,  “such  fears  are  idle;  have  we 
not  already  killed  several  of  these  Europeans  ? Who  has  ever 
attempted  to  revenge  their  death  ? What  harm  has  it  done  us  ? ” 
This  allusion  was  to  the  deaths  of  Irabert,  Maubant,  and  Chastan, 
martyred  in  1839.  perhaps  also  to  those  who,  shipwTecked  at  different 
times  on  the  shores  of  Korea,  had  been  pitilessly  massacred.  The 
Regent  was  alone  in  his  opinion.  Whether  he  was  convinced  by 
their  reasoning  or,  led  by  their  fanaticism,  \vas  forced  to  3-ield  to 
the  torrent  in  order  not  to  risk  his  own  authority’  or  compromise 
his  position,  will  onlj'  be  known  later  when  the  missionaries  have 
re-entered  Korea  and  have  been  able  to  make  complete  inquiries  as 
to  what  happened  at  that  time.  Whatever  ma\’  have  been  his 
reason,  he  gave  in,  and  signed  the  death-warrant  of  all  the  bishops 
and  European  priests  and  put  into  vigorous  practice  the  law's  against 
Christians.” 


PERSECUTION  AxND  TOLERATION  283 


On  the  afternoon  of  February  23rd  a large  force 
of  police  suddenly  entered  the  Bishop’s  resi- 
dence and  arrested  him  and  six  native  Christians. 
The  Bishop  was  at  first  placed  in  the  common  gaol, 
where  he  had  thieves  and  murderers  for  his  fellow- 
prisoners,  but  on  the  morrow  he  was  transferred 
to  the  State  prison,  where  he  was  placed  in  the  quarter 
reserved  for  prisoners  condemned  to  death.  The 
prison  had  a curious  feature.  All  the  prisoners  were 
in  separate  cells,  and  to  prevent  men  speaking  to 
each  other  across  the  partitions,  little  bells  suspended 
all  round  were  continually  rung  in  such  a manner  as 
to  render  all  conversation  impossible. 

On  the  26th  he  was  brought  before  the  High 
Court,  composed  of  all  the  ministers.  There,  firmly 
fastened  in  a chair,  his  legs  bared,  his  ankles,  knees, 
and  arms  all  bound  so  that  movement  was  impossible, 
he  was  interrogated.  “ Why  do  you  come  to  this 
country?  ” “ To  save  souls.”  ‘‘  How  long  have  you 
been  here?”  “Ten  years.”  “If  you  are  released 
and  ordered  to  quit  the  country,  will  you  obey?  ” 
“ Not  unless  expelled  by  force.”  “ Will  you 
apostatise?  ” “ No  ; I have  come  to  preach  the 

religion  which  saves  souls,  and  you  propose  that  I 
renounce  it  ! ” “If  you  do  not  obey,  you  will  be 
beaten  and  tortured.”  “ Do  as  you  wish — enough 
of  vain  questions.” 

Then  his  feet  were  bastinadoed,  and  he  was  beaten 
till  the  bones  of  his  legs  were  denuded  of  flesh,  and 
his  whole  body  became  one  sore,  and  similar  tortures 
were  renewed  on  subsequent  days.  Bretenieres, 
Beaulieu,  and  Dorie  were  also  arrested  and  were 
placed  in  the  same  State  prison  as  the  Bishop,  but  no 
one  knew  of  the  presence  of  the  others.  All  three 
underwent  the  same  tortures  as  the  Bishop.  When 
the  torture  was  over  and  sentence  of  death  was  pro- 
nounced, all  were  conducted  to  the  common  prison, 


284 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


where  they  met  for  the  first  time  since  their  arrest. 
On  March  8th  they  were  brought  to  the  execution 
ground,  to  the  ground  on  the  river  bank  which  was 
only  used  when  it  was  desired  to  carry  out  the 
sentence  with  the  utmost  publicity,  and  there  all  were 
done  to  death  in  precisely  the  same  manner  as  their 
predecessors  in  1839.  Dorie  was  the  last  to  suffer. 
He  had  to  witness  the  agonies  of  all  the  others  before 
his  own  turn  came. 

The  first  four  victims  were  arrested  in  or  near  the 
capital.  The  hue  and  cry  was  soon  set  in  motion 
against  those  in  the  provinces,  and  Pourthie,  Petit- 
nicolas,  Daveluy,  Huin,  and  Aumaitre  were  all 
arrested  in  turn  and  carried  as  prisoners  amidst  the 
jeers  and  insults  of  the  people  in  every  town  and 
village  through  which  they  passed  to  the  capital, 
where  they  were  tried  and  condemned  with  the  same 
tortures  as  the  first.  Daveluy,  who  was  the  Co- 
adjutor-Bishop, Huin,  and  Aumaitre  were  the  last 
victims.  The  celebration  of  the  young  King’s 
marriage  was  near  at  hand.  Sorcerers  and  diviners 
were  busy  at  the  palace  in  selecting  an  auspicious 
day  for  the  ceremony,  and  it  was  feared  that  torture 
and  execution  in  the  capital  would  bode  ill  for  the 
royal  nuptials.  So  the  last  three  were  taken  to  the 
coast,  seventy-five  miles  south  of  the  capital,  and 
there  on  March  30th,  which  happened  to  be  Good 
Friday,  the  sentence  was  carried  out.  In  the  case 
of  Daveluy  the  execution  was  particularly  barbarous. 
One  stroke  of  the  sword  was  given  which  caused  a 
terrible  wound.  Then,  while  the  victim  was  quiver- 
ing in  agony,  the  executioner  delayed  to  squabble 
with  the  officers  as  to  his  payment,  and  it  was  only 
after  a long  wrangle  that  he  completed  his  work. 

Along  with  the  missionaries  the  converts  had  their 
full  meed  of  suffering.  They  were  vigorously  sought 
for  in  every  province.  Many  were  executed  ; their 


PERSECUTION  AND  TOLERATION  285 


number  is  not  known,  and  possibly  never  will  be 
known  ; others  were  banished,  imprisoned,  and 
plundered.  All  Christian  books  and  furniture  were 
destroyed,  and,  paralysed  with  terror,  broken, 
scattered,  deprived  of  their  pastors  as  in  1839,  those 
who  escaped  arrest  found  their  only  safety  in  hiding 
themselves  or  their  religion.  Christianity  was  in 
1886  as  completely  extirpated  in  Korea  as  it  had 
been  in  Japan  in  the  second  quarter  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  And  all  this  happened  within  a few  weeks. 
On  February  1 5th  bright  hopes  were  held  that  the 
dawTi  of  religious  liberty  was  about  to  break.  On 
March  30th  the  ruin  of  Christianity  was  complete. 
The  officials  were  not  wholly  nor  universally  merciless, 
though  mercy  to  any  prisoners  was  not  a Korean 
quality.  The  priests  could  have  avoided  their  fate  had 
they  consented  to  leave  the  country.  The  converts 
were  given  every  opportunity  to  recant.  As  had 
happened  in  Japan,  so  also  in  Korea  pious  frauds 
were  practised,  and  prisoners’  words  were  twisted  so 
as  to  give  them  the  sense  of  recantation,  when  the 
utterers  had  no  such  intention.  Sometimes  the 
prisoner’s  hand  was  forcibly  made  to  trace  a 
semblance  of  a signature  to  a written  acknowledg- 
ment of  his  errors,  and  some  magistrates  who,  though 
not  Christians  themselves,  disapproved  of  the  perse- 
cution, made  both  their  search  and  interrogations  as 
perfunctory  as  they  could  with  safety  to  themselves. 

Thtee  missionaries — Feron,  Ridel,  and  Calais — 
remained  alive.  It  was  well  known  that  there  had 
been  twelve  priests  in  Korea  besides  the  Bishop  : 
it  was  suspected  that  there  were  others,  and  only 
nine  had  fallen.  Orders  were  sent  to  all  the  pro- 
vincial authorities  to  make  the  most  rigorous  search, 
great  rewards  were  promised  them,  and  every  week 
their  zeal  was  stimulated  by  fresh  instructions. 
Military  posts  were  established  at  all  cross-roads. 


286 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


and  the  soldiers  were  ordered  to  permit  none  to  pass 
unless  after  a strict  examination,  but  “ the  soldiers 
soon  wearied  of  this  troublesome  duty,  and  except 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  capital  took  themselves 
off  and  left  the  watch  to  their  empty  sentry-boxes  ” ! 
The  three  European  fugitives  were  driven  from  place 
to  place  by  police  and  spies.  During  the  day  they 
hid  in  holes  in  walls  or  among  the  rocks  of  the  most 
inaccessible  mountains.  At  night  they  travelled  by 
deserted  by-paths,  all  the  time  their  hearts  tom  with 
anguish  at  the  ruin  of  their  Christians,  the  dis- 
couragement of  new  converts,  and  apostasy  of  the 
weak.  They  had  many  narrow  escapes  in  which  they 
were  saved  from  arrest,  sometimes  by  the  ingenuity 
of  the  converts,  sometimes  by  what  appeared  to  be 
the  direct  intervention  of  Providence.  Throughout  all 
they  had  one  great  consolation.  No  thought  of  their 
betrayal  ever  entered  the  minds  of  their  converts. 
They  were  faithfully  guided  in  all  their  wanderings, 
and  the  poorest  owner  of  the  }x>orest  cabin  in  which 
they  were  hidden  or  lodged  was  never  tempted  by 
the  great  rewards  that  were  offered  for  their  arrest. 
Once  Ridel  and  Feron  lodged  for  two  months  in  the 
house  of  a poor  widow,  in  a wretched  hamlet,  who 
had  six  children  to  support,  and  the  Christians  of  the 
village,  all  equally  poor,  sold  all  that  they  had  to 
procure  food  for  them.  They  had  still  no  wish  to 
leave  Korea,  but  they  decided  that  one  of  them  should 
endeavour  to  carry  the  news  of  what  had  happened 
to  China,  and  Ridel  was  chosen  for  the  task. 
Christians  provided  a boat,  manned  by  eleven  sailors, 
and  in  this  he  safely  reached  Chefoo,  after  a voyage 
only  less  perilous  than  that  of  Kim  ten  years  before. 
Thence  he  went  to  Tientsin,  where  he  saw  Admiral 
Roze,  the  Commander  of  the  French  Fleet  on  the 
China  Station,  to  whom  he  told  all  that  had  occurred 
in  Korea,  and  a few  months  later  the  French  expedi- 


PERSECUTION  AND  TOLERATION  287 


tion  the  story  of  which  is  told  in  another  chapter 
made  its  vain  essay  to  avenge  the  martyred  mis- 
sionaries and  to  secure  safety  for  the  future. 

The  Regent  seemed  to  be  drunk  with  vanity  and 
cruelty.  A courier  came  from  Peking  with  warn- 
ings of  the  danger  he  incurred  by  slaying  European 
priests,  but  he  haughtily  answered  that  he  had  killed 
foreigners  before,  that  it  was  his  right  to  do  so,  and 
that  it  concerned  no  one  but  himself.  Even  the 
Chinese  were  not  spared,  and  the  crews  of  two  junks 
on  the  coast  which  were  searched  to  see  if  Europeans 
were  on  board  were  all  massacred  because  some 
cotton  goods  of  European  manufacture  were  found 
among  their  cargoes.  New  edicts  were  issued  against 
the  Christians,  and  death  was  prescribed  for  them 
and  their  relatives  down  to  the  sixth  degree.  The 
terms  of  the  edicts  were  carried  out  to  the  fullest 
extent.  The  executioners  were  busy  everywhere. 
Some  of  the  martyrs  took  their  last  glimpse  of  life 
on  the  banks  of  the  River  Han,  where  two  French 
ships  had  anchored  a month  previously.  “ It  was 
on  account  of  the  Christians  that  the  barbarians  came 
there — it  was  owing  to  them  that  the  waters  of  the 
river  had  been  sullied  by  the  ships  of  the  West. 
It  was  necessary  that  the  stain  should  be  washed 
away  with  Christian  blood.” 

When  two  French  ships  that  were  the  forerunners 
of  the  invading  fleet  were  making  their  first 
reconnaisance  on  the  coast,  the  two  priests,  who  re- 
mained w'hen  Ridel  left  and  were  still  leading  the 
lives  of  hunted  fugitives,  always  in  imminent  danger 
of  arrest,  made  endeavours  to  reach  the  coast,  but 
when  they  did  so  the  ships  had  gone.  They  heard 
also,  when  hidden  in  the  mountains,  of  the  presence 
of  the  Roma,  the  vessel  which  carried  Oppert  on 
his  second  endeavour  to  find  the  entrance  to  the 
River  Han.  When  Oppert  was  on  shore  his 


^288 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


attention  was  attracted  by  two  poor-looking  natives, 
who,  when  they  caught  his  eye,  made  surrepti- 
tious signs  of  the  cross.  On  his  approaching  them 
one  of  them  slipped  into  his  hands  a paper  on  which 
was  written  the  words  : 

“ Ego  Phillipus  alumnus  coreensis  secumdum  pactum  cum  duobus 
nautis  heri  ante  mediam  noctem  veni  in  hunc  destinatum  locum 
et  tota  nocte  hie  vigilavimus.  In  hac  nocte  post  tenebras  navicula 
veniret  optimum  erit  nunc  etiam  hie  sumus.” ' 

They  were  messengers  from  the  fugitive  priests 
in  the  hills.  Oppert  waited  for  them  at  night,  but 
they  did  not  appear  again,  and  it  is  probable  that 
they  were  seen  communicating  with  him  and  arrested. 

Failing  to  find  succour  either  in  the  warships  of 
their  own  country  or  from  the  German  adventurer, 
their  position  daily  becoming  more  desperate,  and 
the  danger  to  their  devoted  converts  who  sheltered 
them  more  intensified,  the  priests  resolved  to  risk 
again  the  dangers  of  the  sea,  and  they  embarked  in 
a frail,  open  boat  on  the  very  day  on  which  Admiral 
Roze  sailed  from  Chefoo  on  his  great  expedition. - 
They  might  have  met  his  fleet  on  the  way,  but  an 
unfavourable  wind  drove  them  to  the  north,  out  of 
the  ordinary  course  from  China,  and  as  their  boat 
was  unfitted,  both  in  its  size  and  construction,  for 
the  high  seas,  they  were  fortunate  in  falling  in  with 
some  Chinese  smugglers,  by  whom  they  were  brought 
in  safety  to  Chefoo,  where  they  arrived  on 
October  26th,  having  been  in  all  on  the  sea  for 
fourteen  days.  Korea  was  then  once  more  without 
the  help  of  a single  foreign  priest.  The  escaped 
missionaries  remained  in  China,  always  hoping  that 
the  chance  would  be  given  to  them  of  returning  to 

• Oppert,  “ A Forbidden  Land.” 

^ Vide  p.  235. 


PERSECUTION  AND  TOLERATION  289 


the  field  which,  with  all  they  had  suffered  in  it,  they 
still  loved.  It  was  thought  that,  if  the  French  would 
not  endeavour  to  wipe  out  the  discredit  of  their  first 
abortive  attempt  by  another  expedition,  this  time  with 
a sufficient  force,  the  English  would  do  so  in  order 
to  re-establish  European  prestige  in  the  Far  East, 
now  sadly  smirched  by  the  French  defeat.  But 
neither  French  nor  English  did  anything.  Hopes 
were  again  raised  when  the  United  States  fleet  en- 
deavoured to  open  the  closed  doors  in  1871,  but 
the  United  States  attempt  when  it  came  was  as 
abortive  as  the  French. 

Korea  was  left  to  herself.  The  Regent,  bursting 
with  pride  at  having  driven  back  with  little  cost 
the  Europeans  before  whom  the  capital  of  his  mighty 
suzerain  had  ignominiously  fallen,  drew  still  more 
closely  the  barriers  which  closed  his  country  against 
all  the  world,  and  haughtily  proclaimed  that  who- 
soever even  suggested  the  least  relaxation  of  the  time- 
honoured  policy  would  be  dealt  with  as  a traitor. 
And  as  for  the  Christians  they  were  held  to  be  already 
traitors,  false  to  their  country  as  well  as  to  their 
religion.  All  their  property  was  confiscated,  and 
the  zeal  of  spies  and  renegades  was  stimulated  by 
the  promise  of  sharing  in  the  spoils.  They  were 
proscribed  as  rebels,  to  be  arrested  and  dragged  to 
prison  wherever  found  and  there  strangled  at  once 
without  the  formality  of  preliminary  trial.  In 
previous  persecutions  the  unhappy  victims  were  able 
to  find  refuge  by  emigrating  to  other  provinces.  Now 
they  were  forbidden  to  settle  in  new  districts  with- 
out licence  from  the  local  magistrates,  and  the 
licence  was  only  issued  after  a rigorous  examina- 
tion as  to  their  motives.  Orphans,  whose  parents 
had  been  martyred,  were  entrusted  to  heathen 
families,  who  were  told  to  rear  them  in  hatred  of 
the  Christianity  which  made  them  orphans.  These 

19 


290 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


were  the  fortunate  ones.  Others  were  cast  on  the 
highways  to  die  of  cold  and  hunger  as  the  brood 
of  an  accursed  sect.  Executions  were  always  carried 
out  in  the  presence  of  those  who  were  to  suffer  later 
so  as  to  add  to  their  terror.  Formerly  those  who 
apostatised  were  released,  and  the  officials,  as  has 
been  told,  endeavoured  to  construe  apostasy  from 
words  that  conveyed  no  such  intention.  Now  even 
those  who,  in  the  agonies  of  torture,  uttered  some 
words  that  bore  the  meaning  were  straightway  carried 
from  the  court  and  beheaded.  The  only  result  of 
their  weakness  was  that  they  were  saved  from  further 
torture.  The  swords  of  the  executioners  were  in- 
sufficient for  the  work  they  had  to  do,  and  a guillotine 
was  devised  by  which  twenty-five  heads  could  be 
separated  from  the  bodies  at  one  stroke.  Between 
1866  and  1870  there  were  more  than  eight  thousand 
Christian  martyrs,  apart  from  those  who  perished 
of  cold  and  hunger  in  the  barren  mountains  to  which 
they  fled.  Deprived  of  its  priests,  of  every  native 
whose  social  position,  intelligence,  or  wealth  could 
have  encouraged  or  helped  its  poorer  members,  the 
Church  was  dead,  and  Christianity  extirpated  in 
Korea,  even  before  the  United  States  guns  were  heard 
on  its  shores.  All  hopes  of  its  revival  were  at  an 
end  when  those  guns  were  silenced. 

The  story  of  the  Church  in  Japan,  three  hundred 
years  older  than  that  of  the  Church  in  Korea,  as  told 
by  the  present  writer,*  was  taken  to  a large  extent 
from  the  “ History  of  the  Church  of  Japan,”  compiled 
from  the  letters  of  the  Jesuit  priests  who  were  the 
first  missionaries.  The  present  story  of  that  in  Korea 
has  been  taken  to  a still  larger  extent,  almost  entirely, 
from  the  later  “ Histoire  de  I’Eglise  de  Coree,”  com- 
piled by  Pere  Dallet,  from  the  letters  and  reports 
of  the  French  missionaries  who  sacrificed  their  lives 
• Vide  “ The  Story  of  Old  Japan." 


PERSECUTION  AND  TOLERATION  291 


in  Korea.  The  latter  work,  which  is  full  of  detail  of 
the  lives  and  sufferings  of  individuals,  both  French 
and  Korean,  is  contained  in  two  bulky  volumes,  each 
of  just  under  six  hundred  closely  printed  pages.  The 
writer  has  endeavoured  to  include  in  his  story  the 
salient  points  in  the  history  of  over  one  hundred 
and  twenty  years,  and  to  provide  his  readers  with 
a connected  outline  of  one  of  the  most  harrowing 
chapters  in  the  whole  history  of  Christianity.  Those 
in  whom  the  story,  as  the  writer  has  tried  to  tell 
it  in  the  limits  of  space  at  his  disposal,  may  arouse 
the  desire  for  further  information  can  only  be  re- 
ferred to  Ballet’s  eloquent  and  thrilling  pages.  They 
form  as  yet  the  only  material  that  is  available  for 
our  knowledge  of  the  whole  subject. 

In  Japan,  on  the  other  hand,  we  have  not  only 
the  writings  of  the  Jesuits  as  our  authorities,  but 
all  the  results  of  the  researches  in  native  histories 
and  records  of  the  great  English  savants,  whose  pro- 
found scholarship  is  one  of  the  brightest  spots  in 
the  record  of  what  Englishmen  have  done  in  or  for 
Japan.  All  their  researches  have  served  to  confirm 
what  is  told  by  the  Jesuits  and  to  prove  that  what 
they  have  said  is  disfigured  neither  by  serious  ex- 
aggeration nor  misrepresentation.  Thirty  years  have 
now  passed  since  European  relations  began  with 
Korea.  An  American  scholar  has  compiled  from 
the  native  authorities  an  exhaustive  history  of  the 
country  from  the  mythical  dowm  to  the  present  age, 
which  bears  in  its  internal  evidence  every  mark  of 
reliability  and  accuracy  from  which  we  have  largely 
borrowed  in  the  previous  chapters.  An  English  mis- 
sionary has  produced  a great  dictionary  of  the 
language.  But  it  would  be  idle  to  say  that  Korea 
has  as  yet  had  its  Satow,  Aston,  or  Chamberlain. 
Time  will,  no  doubt,  bring  them  ; but  in  the  interim 
may  we  not  lend  to  the  writings  of  the  French  mis- 


292  THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 

sionaries  the  same  credit  that  has  been  proved  to 
be  justly  due  to  their  Jesuit  predecessors  in  Japan, 
and  accept  what  is  told  by  them  as  the  authentic 
history  of  a missionary  enterprise  that  is  unsurpassed 
in  the  sublime  fortitude  and  heroism  of  its  pioneers 
by  any  that  has  ever  been  seen  in  other  ages  or 
quarters  of  the  world? 

The  story  of  Korea’s  opening  to  the  world  will  be 
told  in  another  chapter.  Even  before  the  French 
treaty  was  concluded  two  French  priests  once  more 
made  their  way  to  the  capital.  They  were  taken 
under  the  protection  of  the  Japanese  minister,  but 
even  his  presence,  even  the  certainty  that  whatever 
happened  would  be  promptly  known  to  the  outer 
world,  did  not  prevent  their  position  being  full  of 
danger,  so  much  so  that  the  minister  felt  it  his 
duty  to  advise  them  to  leave,  advice  which,  under 
the  circumstances,  became  a command.  They  were 
soon  able  to  return.  Within  a few  years  all 
the  great  European  Powers  interested  in  the  Far 
East  had  their  treaties  duly  signed  and  rati- 
fied, under  which  their  citizens  had  the  rights 
of  trade  and  residence  in  Korea,  and  the  practice 
of  their  religion  was  free.  Missionaries  at  once 
flocked  there,  the  French  Roman  Catholics  in  the 
van,  quickly  followed  from  England,  America,  Canada, 
and  Australia  by  Protestants  of  all  the  varied  denomi- 
nations whose  exegetic  controversies  are  a source  of 
bewilderment  to  the  simple-minded  native  seeker  for 
the  Gospel  of  Christ.  Prelatists  and  Presbyterians, 
Baptists  and  Methodists,  the  Salvation  Army,  the 
Young  Men’s  Christian  Association,  and  perhaps  a 
score  of  others,  have  now  their  representative  missions 
in  Korea,  and  all  claim  success  in  their  proselytising. 
In  1899  there  were  twenty  thousand  Protestant  con- 
verts. Ten  years  later  their  number  had  increased 
fourfold,  and  the  pride  of  the  missionaries  w'as  not 


A VILLAGE  SCHOOL. 


PERSECUTION  AND  TOLERATION  293 


in  the  number  but  “ in  the  supreme  faith  and  apos- 
tolic fervour  ” of  their  converts.  When  the  annexa- 
tion was  proclaimed  there  were  453  missionaries  in 
Korea.  Fifty  of  them'  were  French  citizens,  and 
they  included  all  the  Roman  Catholics.  Four  were 
Russians  of  the  Greek  Church.  The  rest,  of  whom 
306  were  United  States  citizens,  90  British,  and  3 
German  subjects,  comprised  the  Protestant  mis- 
sionaries of  all  denominations.  There  are  said  to 
be  over  200,000  native  Christians  of  all  denomina- 
tions, the  greatest  number  belonging,  as  is  natural 
from  its  greater  age  in  Korea,  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  Next  to  it  in  number  of  its  followers  comes 
the  Greek  Church,  while  among  the  Protestant 
Churches  the  foremost  places  are  taken  by  the 
Presbyterians  and  Methodists.  In  every  province, 
in  every  great  city  throughout  the  whole  peninsula, 
missionaries  are  found  working  ; churches,  rising 
high  above  the  low  roofs  of  the  native  houses,  are 
prominent  features  in  the  towns,  and  all  are  well 
filled  by  worshippers  on  Sundays  and  holidays.  The 
most  striking  architectural  feature  in  the  capital  is 
perhaps  the  imposing  Roman  Catholic  cathedral 
which  in  late  years  has  more  than  realised  the 
brightest  hopes  of  the  simple  converts  of  1866.  At 
Kang-Wha,  the  historic  island  in  which  the  kings 
of  Old  Korea  were  wont  to  seek  a harbour  of  refuge 
in  times  of  danger,  there  is  a great  Church  of 
England  mission,  presided  over  by  a bishop,  with 
all  the  equipment  of  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  most 
advanced  ritualistic  school.  At  Phyong  An,  “ the 
most  wicked  city  in  all  Korea,”  the  ancient  capital, 
a large  number  of  American  missionaries  reside,  and 
the  Presbyterian  Church  alone  has  a regular  Sunday 
congregation  of  over  fifteen  hundred  converts,  while 
its  mid-week  prayer-meeting  has  an  average  attend- 
ance of  eleven  hundred.  Is  there  any  single  church 


294 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


in  all  England  or  Scotland  that  can  boast  of  a similar 
mid-week  congregation? 

By  leading  lives  of  a degree  of  self-denying 
poverty  that  borders  on  asceticism,  by  condemning 
themselves  to  lifelong  expatriation,  which  is  never  re- 
lieved by  furloughs  in  Europe,  the  Roman  Catholics, 
both  priests  and  nuns,  still  endeavour  to  follow  the 
example  of  their  martyred  predecessors  ; the  English 
Ritualists  follow  at  some  distance  the  example  of 
their  Roman  Catholic  confreres  by  the  exercise  of 
strict  frugality  ; the  Nonconformists,  with  their  wives 
and  children  around  them,  lead  the  same  lives  as  the 
pastors  of  their  own  Churches  in  their  own  country. 
Missionaries,  whether  Catholic  or  Protestant,  no 
longer  steal  at  night  through  drain-pipes,  nor  cross 
the  dangerous  China  Seas  in  open  boats,  but  take 
their  passages  in  ocean  steamers  as  well  found  as 
any  in  the  world.  They  have  not  to  live  as  solitary 
fugitives  in  peasant  cabins,  dependent  on  their  poor 
owners  for  food  and  safety,  but  in  their  own  spacious 
European  houses,  built  on  sites  that  are  carefully 
chosen,  both  for  their  sanitary  and  picturesque 
advantages,  furnished  with  every  domestic  appliance 
that  can  moderate  the  heat  of  summer  and  the  cold 
of  winter.  They  no  longer  make  their  weary  journeys 
on  foot  hidden  beneath  the  stifling  garb  of  the 
mourning  native,  but  in  express  trains,  fitted  with 
dining  and  sleeping  cars  and  all  that  is  required  to 
make  railway  travelling  easy,  or,  where  railways  are 
not  available,  in  chairs  or  on  horseback,  with  an 
attendant  train  of  obsequious  baggage  coolies,  carry- 
ing ample  provision  of  food,  clothing,  and  bedding. 
Their  converts  have  now  nothing  to  fear.  They  had, 
on  the  contrary,  much  to  gain  in  the  help  that  was 
afforded  to  them  by  their  pastors  against  the  tyranny 
of  their  own  officials  prior  to  the  beginning  of  the 
Japanese  Protectorate.  Their  faith  has  not  been  tried 


PERSECUTION  AND  TOLERATION  295 


in  the  fires  of  persecution  that  purified  that  of  their 
fathers  and  grandfathers.  Still,  it  would  be  unfair 
to  doubt  it,  any  more  than  do  those  missionaries  who 
know  tliem  ; and  if  the  numbers  of  the  professed 
converts  and  their  willingness  to  contribute  out  of 
their  own  most  scanty  means  to  the  support  of  their 
Churches  are  tests  of  success,  the  missionaries  of 
the  present  day  have  nothing  to  fear  from  a com- 
parison of  the  results  of  their  zeal,  industry,  ability, 
and  devotion  with  those  of  their  martyred  prede- 
cessors. 

The  late  Prince  Ito  was  not  a believer  in 
Christianity,  either  in  its  doctrine  or  as  a means 
for  the  betterment  of  his  own  countrymen.  He  once, 
many  years  ago,  told  the  present  writer  that  he 
wanted  everything  from  the  West  except  its  religion, 
but  that  he  could  see  nothing  that  would  tend  to  the 
moral  amelioration  of  humanity,  either  in  the  doctrine 
or  the  practices  of  Christianity,  which  Japanese  would 
not  find  equally  well  in  their  own  faith  and  moral 
codes  and  observances.  And  yet,  when  Resident- 
General  at  Seoul,  he  paid  a high  compliment  to  the 
religious  and  educational  work  of  European  mis- 
sionaries in  Korea,  promising  them  that  his  own 
Government  would  give  every  assistance  to  their 
efforts,  and  inviting  their  co-operation  in  promoting 
the  future  welfare  of  the  people.  He  was  not  a 
man  either  to  give  praise  where  it  was  not  deserved, 
or  to  invoke  aid  which  might  be  fruitless,  and  no 
higher  certificate  could  possibly  be  given  to  the 
efficiency  of  missionary  work  in  Korea  than  in  his 
words,  the  purport  of  which  we  have  taken  from  a 
Japanese  and  not  from  a missionary  authority. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


MODERN  KOREA — I 868-84 

In  1868  the  last  of  the  Tokugawa  Shoguns,  the 
dynasty  which  had  governed  Japan  for  more  than 
two  and  a half  centuries,  resigned  his  great  office, 
and  the  direct  control  of  the  executive  reverted  into 
the  hands  of  the  Emperor,  who  thus  resumed  the 
full  prerogatives  of  the  sovereignty  of  which  his 
ancestors  had  been  deprived  by  successive  families 
of  military  usurpers  for  more  than  seven  centuries. 
A complete  revolution  simultaneously  took  place  in 
the  whole  administrative  and  social  systems  of  Japan. 
Feudalism  was  abolished,  and  the  resolution  was 
taken  by  the  new  Government  to  substitute  the 
civilisation  of  Europe  for  that  of  China  as  the  con- 
trolling factor  in  the  social  and  political  life  of  the 
nation. 

It  has  been  already  told  how  the  Japanese  factory 
was  maintained  at  Fusan,  and  a tribute -bearing 
embassy  sent  by  Korea  each  year,  at  first,  in  the 
earlier  years  of  the  Tokugawas,  to  Yedo,  and  after- 
wards in  the  later  years  to  Tsushima.  Korea  acknow- 
ledged vassalage  to  both  China  and  Japan  ; but  while 
the  Koreans  paid  infinitely  more  deference  and 
observed  their  vassal  obligations  with  far  greater 
punctiliousness  to  China,  accepting  from  China  in- 
structions as  to  the  succession  of  their  kings,  their 
laws,  and  their  calendar  which  they  would  not  have 
done  from  Japan,  Japan  always  claimed  that  her  rights 
towards  Korea  were  earlier  in  origin,  and  rested  on 

296 


MODERN  KOREA— 1868-84 


297 


a better  foundation  than  those  of  China.  During" 
the  civil  -war  which  preceded  the  restoration  of  the 
Emperor  Korea  was  forgotten,  and  even  the  embassy 
to  Tsushima  lapsed.  Once,  however,  the  war  was 
over  and  the  Emperor  was  firmly  established  on  his 
throne  in  his  new  capital  at  Tokio,  the  precedent 
set  by  lyeyasu  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  pre- 
viously was  followed,  and  an  intimation  of  what  had 
taken  place  was  sent  to  the  Korean  Government, 
accompanied  by  an  invitation  to  renew  the  old 
observances.  The  Tai  Won  Kun  was  at  this  time 
at  the  very  height  of  his  influence  and  power  as 
Regent  of  the  kingdom.  He  had  just,  as  he  believed, 
defeated  the  forces  of  France  ; he  had  extirpated 
the  hated  doctrine  of  Christianity  ; he  considered 
himself  and  his  country  invincible,  and  he  was 
saturated  both  with  pride  at  what  he  had  achieved 
and  with  the  most  bigoted  conservative  prejudices. 
For  Japan,  who  had  opened  her  doors  to  Europeans 
and  was,  he  was  told,  now  about  to  adopt  their 
civilisation,  he  had  nothing  but  contempt,  and  the 
reply  which  he  sent  to  the  courteous  communica- 
tion from  the  new  Government  of  the  Empire  con- 
veyed his  contempt  in  the  most  insulting  manner 
that  could  be  embodied  in  words.  It  was  as  follows  : 

“ We  have  received  your  letter  and  have  given  it  very  deep 
consideration,  comparing  your  dispatch  with  other  dispatches.  It 
is  a long  time  since  there  has  been  any  intercourse  between  our  two 
countries.  Your  dispatch  demands  payment  of  tribute.  We  will 
show  how  this  affair  stands.  Taiko  Sama,'  without  provocation  or 
cause  of  any  kind,  invaded  Korea,  and  made  Korea  sign  a document 
agreeing  to  pay  tribute.  In  those  days  Korea  was  unprepared  for 
war,  and  had  not  even  been  informed  of  the  intention  of  Japan. 
But  it  is  very  different  now.  The  invasion  by  Taiko  was  a crime 
committed  against  Korea  by  Japan,  which  is  not  yet  punished. 
Your  demand  is  so  unreasonable,  that  instead  of  Korea  paying  you 


Hideyoshi. 


298 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


tribute,  it  is  for  you  to  return  the  money  paid  by  Korea.  In  your 
dispatch  you  have  made  many  insinuations  of  your  having  adopted 
foreign  customs ; we  can  assure  you  that  Japan  is  Japan,  Korea  is 
Korea — but  Korea  has  its  own  customs.  Some  years  back  we  had 
a difference  with  a country  called  France,  which  is,  among 
barbarians,  considered  to  be  very  powerful  and  very  large,  whilst 
Korea  is  very  small — but  we  defeated  that  great  country.  We 
assembled  all  our  warriors,  every  one  of  whom  was  ready  to  die. 
According  to  our  old  treaty  of  friendship,  whenever  either  is  attacked 
by  barbarians,  the  other  is  to  help.  To  show  our  honesty,  when  the 
barbarians  went  to  your  country,  we  immediately  wrote  to  you  that 
we  had  made  every  preparation  to  help  you.  During  the  French 
attack  on  Korea  we  day  and  night  expected  that  you  would  come 
with  your  forces  to  our  aid  ; but  not  having  received  your  assistance 
we  wrote  and  informed  you  of  our  distress,  informing  you  of  our 
position,  and  asking  for  immediate  help.  You  have  neither  sent  us 
aid,  nor  any  answer  to  our  dispatch.  From  that  day  our  treaty  of 
friendship  was  at  an  end.  We  no  longer  consider  each  other  friends 
but  enemies.  The  tone  of  your  dispatch  is  so  friendly  that  we  look 
upon  it  as  treachery’ ; and  after  having  been  so  friendly  with  Japan 
and  being  repaid  by  treachery,  w’e  never  can  be  friendly  again.  Not 
only  have  you  broken  the  treaty  as  above  described,  but  you  have 
also  broken  another  very  chief  point  of  treaty  in  adopting  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  Western  barbarians.  Our  information 
is,  that  you  have  adopted  French  drill ; and  whenever  you  want 
money  you  go  to  England  ; and  if  you  wish  to  tax  your  own  people 
or  impose  duties  you  take  advice  from  America.  But  you  have 
never  consulted  us,  as  agreed  in  our  old  treaty.  You  think  the 
Western  barbarians  are  great  people.  We,  Koreans,  are  a very 
small  country,  but  yet  we  have  the  courage  to  put  in  writing  to  you, 
that  Western  barbarians  are  beasts.  The  above  we  intend  as  a direct 
insult  to  you  and  your  allies — the  barbarians.  We  desire  that  }’Ou 
should  join  them  and  bring  your  great  ships  and  your  army  here. 
Fusan  is  the  nearest  part  of  Korea  to  Japan.  To  make  your  attack 
as  inexpensive  as  possible  to  you  and  your  friends,  we  will  send  and 
clear  Fusan  for  a battle-field,  and  will  appoint  the  battle.  It  is  use- 
less to  go  into  any  correspondence,  because  the  wrong  j’ou  have 
done  to  us  is  so  great,  that  your  apologies  will  not  avail.  The  only 
alternative  is  a bloody  war — a war  that  will  cost  Japan  all  its 
warriors  ; and  then  we  will  bring  you  to  terms. 

This  is  our  intention.  You  must  not  attempt  to  w’rite  us  again  ; 
and  the  above  is  a notice  to  j’ou  to  make  all  preparation,  for  either 
Japan  must  invade  Korea,  or  Korea  will  invade  Japan. 


MARBLK  PAGODA  IN  SEOUL. 

{From  SUreof’raf'h  Ccfyriglit,  Umient'ood  & Underaocd,  London.) 


To  face  p.  298. 


MODERN  KOREA— 1868-84 


299 


The  receipt  of  this  letter  was  concealed  by  the 
Japanese  Government,  which  was  fully  occupied  at 
the  time  by  its  own  serious  domestic  difficulties.  It 
leaked  out,  however,  two  years  later,  and  it  was 
then  asserted,  and  it  is  now  believed,  that  the  letter 
was  a forgery  ; but  even  if  the  version  that  has  just 
been  given  is  not  correct,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the 
Tai  Won  Kun’s  reply  embodied  an  insulting  and  con- 
temptuous refusal  of  the  Japanese  proposal. 

The  high-spirited  Samurai  of  Japan  were  plunged 
into  a fervour  of  patriotic  indignation  when  they 
heard  of  the  insult  offered  to  their  Emperor  by  a 
petty  kingdom  which  had  been  twice  conquered  by 
their  ancestors,  whose  military  capacity  and  civilisa- 
tion they  regarded  with  equal  contempt.  They 
demanded  that  they  should  be  at  once  led  to  Korea 
to  wipe  out  the  insult  in  blood,  and  several  of  the 
leading  members  of  the  new  Government  were  in  full 
sympathy  with  them.  But  wiser  counsels  prevailed. 
Japan  was  in  no  condition  to  undertake  a foreign 
war,  even  against  a power  so  insignificant  and  close 
as  Korea.  The  foreign  and  domestic  problems  which 
her  new  Government  had  to  solve  were  already 
sufficient  to  exhaust  to  the  utmost  the  time  and  talents 
of  her  ministers,  all  of  whom  were  new  to  their 
duties,  without  adding  to  them  complications  with 
Korea.  Her  finances  had  not  recovered  from  the 
burthens  of  her  own  civil  war.  Her  new  military 
system  was  in  its  infancy  and  she  had  neither  a naval 
nor  a mercantile  fleet.  The  affront  was  for  the 
moment  accepted  and  Korea  was  left  alone.  But 
it  was  only  to  await  another  and  more  fitting  time. 

In  September,  1875,  the  Unyo  Kwan,  a gunboat, 
was  fired  on  by  a Korean  fort  at  the  entrance  of  the 
River  Han.  It  was  stated  at  the  time  that  the  gun- 
boat had  only  called  to  obtain  wood  and  water,  while 
on  a voyage  from  Nagasaki  to  New-chwang,  but 


300 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


she  was  in  reality  engaged  in  surveying  the 
approaches  to  the  Han  in  view  of  future  contingencies. 
The  insult  to  the  flag  was  promptly  returned.  The 
fort  was  first  shelled,  and  then  stormed  and  taken 
by  a landing  party.  The  comparative  fighting 
capacity  of  the  Koreans  and  Japanese  at  the  time 
may  be  estimated  from  the  fact  that  the  Korean 
garrison  consisted  of  250  men  and  the  landing  party 
of  32  officers  and  men.  The  Koreans  had  only  bows 
and  old  matchlocks  to  oppose  to  the  Japanese  rifles 
of  the  most  modern  pattern,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
they  were  behind  the  walls  of  their  castle,  a position 
in  which  their  foes  have  ever  found  them  formidable 
antagonists,  from  the  days  of  the  Swi  Emperors  of 
China  to  those  of  the  French  and  United  States 
fiascoes.  Nearly  the  whole  garrison  was  killed,  many 
as  they  tried  to  swim  across  the  river  that  was  near 
being  drowned  or  shot  by  the  Japanese,  one  of  whose 
qualities  was  not  mercy  to  beaten  foes,  as  they 
struggled  in  the  water.  A great  quantity  of  spoil 
was  taken — matchlocks,  drums  (one  of  the  drums  was 
six  feet  in  diameter),  banners — and  brought  to  Tokio, 
where  it  was  publicly  exhibited. 

Once  more,  as  in  1872,  the  cry  for  war  was  raised 
in  Japan  by  the  hot-headed  and  ambitious  Samurai, 
and  as  Japan  was  now  in  a very  different  position  to 
what  she  had  been  in  1872,  with  a small  but  efficient 
army  and  the  nucleus  of  a navy  and  mercantile 
marine,  she  could  have  safely  undertaken  to  bring 
such  a power  as  Korea  to  her  owm  terms.  The 
Government  had,  however,  to  consider  not  only  Korea 
but  her  suzerain,  China,  who  might,  if  the  vassal 
were  assailed,  come  to  her  assistance  as  in  the  days 
of  Hideyoshi  ; and  with  the  wisdom  and  patience 
which  the  ministers  of  the  Emperor  have  displayed 
in  every  incident  of  their  foreign  policy  throughout 
his  reign  they  disregarded  the  jingoism  of  a section 


MODERN  KOREA— 1868-84 


301 


of  their  citizens  and  resolved  to  endeavour  to  bring 
Korea  to  terms  and  induce  her  to  abandon  her  policy 
of  national  isolation  by  diplomacy.  Japan  had  other 
and  more  vital  reasons  to  actuate  her  than  the  solace - 
ment  of  wounded  pride.  Russian  aggression  in  the 
Far  East  was  an  ever-present  nightmare  to  the 
Japanese  statesmen  throughout  the  first  decades  of 
the  Emperor’s  reign.  Russia  had,  in  Japan’s  own 
case,  when  she  was  distracted  by  civil  war  and  had 
not  even  the  semblance  of  a navy,  actually  attempted 
to  lay  hands  on  the  island  of  Tsushima,  and  was  only 
prevented  from  carrying  her  designs  further  by  the 
British  fleet.  Russia  had  also  given  evidence  that 
in  her  lust  of  territory  she  did  not  consider  the 
island  of  Yezo  beyond  the  possibility  of  acquisition. 
She  had  profited  by  the  weakness  and  ignorance  of 
China  to  extend  her  continental  possessions  down 
to  the  very  frontier  of  Korea,  but  she  still  wanted  a 
sea  outlet.  To  gain  that,  no  duplicity,  no  use  of 
force  that  promised  success  would  be  spared.  Korea, 
isolated,  ignorant,  and  weak,  with  her  splendid  ice- 
free  harbours,  offered  all  and  more  than  could  be 
desired,  and  was  a tempting  morsel  to  the  insatiable 
appetite  of  the  Czar,  too  great  a temptation  to  be 
resisted  when  the  time  came,  unless  Russia  was 
assured  that  yielding  to  it  would  cost  more  than  it 
was  worth.  Korea’s  fate  was,  on  the  other  hand, 
of  as  vital  importance  to  the  future  national  security 
of  Japan  in  the  eyes  of  her  statesmen  as  were,  not 
to  say  Afghanistan  and  Egypt  but  Ireland  to  Great 
Britain.  Her  incorporation  by  a strong  military  and 
aggressive  Western  power  would  be  as  great  a threat 
to  the  independence  and  national  security  of  Japan 
as  would  Ireland,  independent  or  under  the  influ- 
ence of  a hostile  power,  be  to  the  safety  of  the  British 
Empire.  Korea’s  security  could  only  be  insured  by 
bringing  her  into  the  comity  of  the  nations  of  the 


302 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


world  and  inducing  her  to  educate  and  arm  herself 
according  to  modern  methods,  as  Japan  was  now 
endeavouring  to  do. 

China  was  induced,  not  only  to  assent  to  the 
Japanese  proposals  but  to  advise  Korea  to  accept 
them.  She  warned  Korea  to  expect  no  military  aid 
in  any  troubles  that  might  ensue  from  resisting  the 
Japanese  demands.  She  cited  her  own  example  as 
a lesson.  Great  and  powerful  though  China  was, 
her  Government  had  found  it  impossible  to  close 
their  country  against  foreigners,  and  had,  therefore, 
found  protection  by  entering  into  friendly  relations 
with  them.  How,  then,  could  a poor  and  weak  country 
like  Korea  expect  to  succeed  where  China  had  failed, 
and  maintain  its  isolation  against  all  the  powers  of 
the  world,  of  whom  Japan  was  only  the  forerunner? 
.When  it  was  known  in  Japan  that  Chinese  neutrality 
could  be  relied  on  all  preparations  were  quickly  com- 
pleted, and  in  January,  1876,  an  expedition  sailed 
for  Kang-Wha,  sufficiently  strong,  though  its  whole 
object  was  peaceful,  to  forcibly  repel  any  insult  or 
attack  that  might  be  offered  to  it  by  the  Koreans. 
Japan  in  the  result  achieved  a complete  triumph,  one 
that  did  much  to  enhance  her  reputation  for  firm 
and  astute  statesmanship  in  the  eyes  of  the  world. 
The  narrow-minded,  intolerant  Regent  of  Korea  was 
no  longer  in  office.  The  young  King  had  attained 
his  majority,  and  with  his  personal  assumption  of  the 
control  of  the  executive,  the  conservative  entourage 
of  the  Regent  had  been  replaced  by  younger  and 
more  progressive  officials.  The  demands  formulated 
in  courteous  but  unmistakable  terms  by  the  Japanese 
envoys  were  accepted  by  them,  and  on  February  26, 
1876,  a Treaty  of  “Peace  and  Friendship”  was 
concluded,  which  terminated  for  ever,  not  only 
Korea’s  national  isolation  from  the  world  but, 
theoretically  at  least,  her  dependence  on  China.  The 


MODERN  KOREA— 1868-84 


303 


first  clause  of  the  treaty  declared  that  Korea  was 
an  independent  State,  enjoying  the  same  sovereign 
rights  as  Japan,  and  that  all  intercourse  between  the 
two  should  be  conducted  on  terms  of  equality. 
Others  provided  for  the^  abolition  of  the  old  factory 
at  Fusan  with  its  primeval  restrictions,  and  the  open- 
ing of  Fusan  and  two  other  ports  to  the  trade  and 
residence  of  Japanese  subjects  ; for  the  rescue  and 
treatment  of  shipwrecked  crews  ; for  the  appointment 
of  Consuls  at  the  ports,  and  for  the  establishment 
of  a legation  at  the  capital.  The  same  extra-terri- 
torial clauses  that  Perry  had  forced  on  the  Japanese 
when  they  were  ignorant  of  all  international  usages, 
of  which  they  afterwards  so  bitterly  complained,  were 
introduced  by  them  into  their  first  treaty  with  Korea, 
and  it  may  be  noted  here  that  this  was  only  the  first 
of  many  incidents  in  Japan’s  intercourse  with  Korea 
that  found  their  exact  counterpart  in  the  story  of 
her  own  early  relations  with  European  Powers. 
Others  will  be  mentioned  hereafter. 

Two  of  the  proposals  of  the  Japanese  were  long 
resisted  by  the  Koreans.  For  centuries  the  latter 
had  been  accustomed  to  use  the  Chinese  calendar, 
a usage  which  among  Oriental  nations  was  the 
strongest  outward  mark  of  vassalage.  To  depart 
from  their  old  custom  was  an  innovation  which  at  first 
appeared  too  revolutionary  to  the  Koreans,  but  they 
finally  yielded  and  consented  to  date  the  treaty,  not 
according  to  the  Chinese  style,  which  would  have 
been  totally  inconsistent  with  the  newly-asserted  inde- 
pendence of  Korea,  but  as  the  four  hundred  and 
eighty-fifth  year  from  the  founding  of  Chosen — in 
other  words,  from  the  accession  of  the  first  king  of 
the  last  dynasty,  when  the  name  of  Chosen  was 
resurrected  as  that  of  the  unified  kingdom  of  the 
peninsula. 

The  second  difficulty  occurred  in  regard  to  the 


304 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


titles  by  which  the  respective  sovereigns  of  the  two 
countries  should  be  described. 

The  title  by  which  the  ruler  of  Korea  had  always 
been  recognised  by  China  was  that  of  Wang 
(Japanese  O),  which  means  sovereign,  or  royal 
prince,  and  in  very  ancient  times  this  was  also  the 
only  title  which  was  held  even  by  the  Emperor  of 
China.  In  the  feudal  period  of  China,  in  the  early 
centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  every  ruler  of  a fief 
assumed  it,  and  the  Emperor  w'as  then  discriminated 
from  mere  feudal  chiefs  by  the  more  high-sounding 
title  Hwang  Ti  (Supreme  Ruler),  the  ruler  to  whom 
not  only  his  own  subjects  but  all  the  sovereigns  of 
other  nations  of  the  world  are  inferior.  When  the 
Japanese  adopted  the  civilisation  of  China  they 
also  adopted  as  the  designation  of  their  Sovereign 
the  term  Kotei,  which  is  the  Japanese  pronunciation 
of  the  ideographs  that  are  read  in  Chinese  as  Hwang 
Ti,  and  of  course  conveys  to  the  Japanese  mind 
precisely  the  same  signification  as  does  Hwang  Ti 
to  the  Chinese.  The  Japanese  had  precisely  the 
same  idea  in  adopting  the  title  as  that  which  actuated 
the  Chinese.  They  thought  that  the  Sovereign  of 
Japan,  the  direct  descendant  of  the  Gods  of  Heaven, 
the  supreme  ruler  of  the  divine  Land  of  the  Gods, 
was  superior  to  all  other  sovereigns  on  earth.  He 
alone  could  therefore  be  properly  described  as  Kotei. 
This  belief  was  put  in  practice  when  the  first 
treaties  were  concluded  both  by  China  and  Japan 
in  the  names  of  their  Emperors  with  the  great  powers 
of  the  West.  The  two  Emperors  were  described  in 
them  as  Hwang  Ti  or  Kotei,  while  the  Queen  of  Great 
Britain  and  other  European  sovereigns  were  described 
as  Wang  or  O,  and  these  terms  remained  in  the 
treaties  until  European  diplomatists  learnt  their  dero- 
gatory signification.  The  King  of  Korea,  a vassal 
of  China,  had  never  claimed  or  received  any  higher 


MODERN  KOREA— 1868-84 


305 


title  from  his  suzerain  than  that  of  Wang.  He  was 
too  inured  to  that,  too  unconscious  of  the  freedom 
from  the  shackles  of  Chinese  suzerainty  that  was 
being  thrust  upon  him,  to  desire  another  ; and  yet 
he  was  now  asked  to  treat  on  terms  of  equality,  as  an 
independent  sovereign,  with  the  Emperor  of  Japan, 
whom  his  representatives  would  describe  in  no  other 
term  than  that  of  Kotei.  The  difficulty  was  got 
over  after  long  discussion,  which  at  first  threatened 
to  put  a stop  to  all  the  negotiations,  by  the  treaty 
being  formulated  in  the  names  of  the  Governments 
and  not,  according  to  the  usual  international  practice, 
in  those  of  the  sovereigns  of  the  two  countries. 

For  a few  years  the  Japanese  were  satisfied  with 
their  moral  victory.  They  did  not  bring  back  with 
them  a high  idea  of  the  resources  of  Korea  or  of 
any  prospect  of  a valuable  trade  springing  up  between 
the  two  countries.  In  the  few  places  they  had  seen 
they  found  signs  of  great  poverty — houses,  food,  and 
clothing  all  poor — and  all  the  outward  marks  of  a low 
order  of  civilisation,  and  the  physical  characteristics 
of  the  country  impressed  them  as  little  as  did  the 
conditions  of  the  people.  The  soil  seemed  to  be  poor, 
hard,  and  ill-suited  for  cultivation,  the  vegetation 
sparse  and  stunted,  timber  scarce,  and  what  there 
was  of  it  of  inferior  quality.  Pines  were  plentiful, 
but  they  were  not  straight  and  graceful  like  those  in 
Japan,  and  the  demand  for  fuel  was  so  great  that 
the  trees  were  never  permitted  to  grow  to  a great 
height.  The  houses  were  constructed  of  stone  and 
earth  without  plaster,  thatched  with  rice  straw,  and 
miserably  small.  Few  of  them  had  ceilings,  and  the 
floors  were  made  of  hardened  earth  and  covered  only 
with  oil-paper  or,  in  the  better-class  houses,  with 
leopard-skins.  The  streets  were  indescribably  filthy. 
There  was  no  sanitation,  no  drainage,  and  nothing 
seemed  to  be  done  to  remove  the  accumulations  of 

20 


306 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


household  refuse  and  ordure  that  were  piled  up  all 
along  the  sides  of  even  the  best  streets,  rendering 
them  equally  offensive  to  sight  and  smell.  Both 
art  and  manufactures  were  in  a low  state.  The  best 
pictures  that  Korean  artists  could  produce  might  be 
purchased  for  a few  pence  in  Japan  ; the  silk  was 
useless  ; the  cotton,  though  cheap,  of  low  quality, 
and  all  that  the  commercial  experts  of  the  expedition 
could  see  that  gave  hopes  of  profitable  trade  in  the 
future  were  dried  fish,  seaweed,  and  hides. 

The  Koreans  sent  a complimentary  embassy  to 
Tokio  to  return  the  visit  which  the  Japanese  envoys 
had  made  to  Korea,  and  there  they  saw  for  the  first 
time  all  the  wonders  of  Western  civilisation  which 
Japan  had  acquired  ; but,  with  that,  official  inter- 
course between  the  two  countries  came  to  a temporary 
end.  The  Satsuma  rebellion  broke  out,  and  all  the 
energy  and  thought  of  the  Government  of  Japan 
were  concentrated  on  its  suppression  and  on  the  re- 
covery from  the  terrible  sacrifice  of  men  and  money 
which  it  entailed  on  the  nation.  It  was  not  till 
1880  that  a minister  was  sent  to  take  up  his  residence 
in  Seoul,  and  the  three  ports  provided  in  the  treaty 
were  opened  and  occupied  by  Japanese  traders. 
Liberal  opinions  had,  in  the  meantime,  been  steadily 
gaining  ground  among  the  ruling  classes  in  Korea. 
Some  of  them  had  visited  Japan,  and  the  tales  which 
they  and  the  embassy  brought  back  of  all  they  had 
seen  there  filled  the  others  with  the  desire  to  start 
Korea  on  the  same  path  of  progress.  The  King  was 
with  them.  So  also  was  the  Queen,  a strong-minded, 
courageous,  and  able  woman,  though  her  liberality 
was  possibly  the  outcome  of  her  hatred  for  the  Tai* 
Won  Kun,  who  was  still  faithful  to  his  old  tenets, 
and  still  had  a large  and  influential  following  in  the 
country,  rather  than  from  any  honest  conversion  to 
the  cause  of  progress.  Advice  was  coming  from 


KOAI)  OUTSIDE  SEOUL. 

(/r»j»n  Shreof^raf'h  Cfif'yrif’hl,  VnJtruccd  S'  ('lu/^raw*/,  ran«/o»».) 


To  face  p.  306, 


MODERN  KOREA— 1868-84 


307 


Li  Hung  Chang,  the  great  statesman  of  China,  who 
had  in  the  interim  quietly  absorbed  and  colonised 
the  old  strip  of  neutral  territory  on  the  northern 
frontier,  which  strongly  supported  the  views  of  the 
Korean  liberals,  and  when,  in  1882  and  1883,  repre- 
sentatives of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 
appeared  at  Chemulpo,  due  intimation  of  their  coming 
having  been  first  sent  through  the  Government  of 
China,  treaties  were  also  concluded  with  them.  Other 
European  powers — France,  Germany,  Russia,  and 
Italy — followed,  and  Korea  was  finally  and  irre- 

trievably committed  to  diplomatic  and  commercial 
intercourse  on  equal  terms  with  the  despised  bar- 
barians of  the  West. 

As  it  was  in  Japan  in  the  first  decade  that 

followed  her  opening  to  the  world  so  also  was  it  in 

Korea.  These  chapters  in  the  histories  of  both 

countries  are  almost  identical.  Liberal  statesmen  in 
Japan,  yielding  to  the  dictates  of  prudence  which 
told  them  that  they  had  no  means  to  resist  demands 
that  would  be  enforced  by  overwhelming  military 
strength,  opened  their  country  to  foreigners,  but  by 
doing  so  they  incurred  the  universal  odium  of  their 
own  ill-informed  countrymen,  and  what  they  had  done 
was  bitterly  condemned  by  conservative  fanatics  who 
thought  themselves  patriots,  who  enforced  their  views 
by  frequent  assassinations  both  of  the  ministers  of 
their  Government  and  of  the  first  Europeans  to  reside 
in  the  country.  In  Japan  in  the  early  days  of  heiil 
foreign  intercourse  desperate  attacks  were  twice  made 
by  armed  men  at  night  on  the  British  Legation  in 
the  capital  with  the  avowed  object  of  murdering  all 
its  inmates  ; and  so  insecure  were  the  lives  of  all 
Europeans  that  Great  Britain  and  France,  the  two 
powers  of  the  West  that  were  then  most  deeply 
interested  in  the  commercial  expansion  of  the  East, 
were  obliged  to  establish  strong  garrisons  of  their 


308 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


troops  in  Yokohama  to  render  to  their  citizens  the 
protection  and  security  which  the  Japanese  Govern- 
ment of  the  time  could  not  give  them.  The  only 
foreigners  in  the  capital  of  Seoul  in  1882  were 
Japanese,  and  they  were  limited  to  the  ministers  and 
a large  staff  which  included,  not  only  secretaries, 
student  interpreters,  and  servants,  but  a few  officers 
of  the  army,  and  some  policemen  who  acted  as  a 
guard,  the  whole  numbering  about  forty-two  persons. 
They  had  been  in  the  capital  for  nearly  two  years  ; and 
though  they  had  during  those  years  frequently  been 
subjected  to  the  insults  and  jeers  of  the  lower  orders 
of  the  people  when  outside  the  walls  of  their  Legation 
— just  as  were  the  staff  of  the  English  Legation  in 
the  streets  of  Yedo  in  the  early  sixties — they  had,  on 
the  whole,  somewhat  reconciled  the  general  mass  of 
the  population  to  their  presence. 

The  Tai  >Won  Kun  had  been  out  of  office  since 
1873.  He  had  been  obliged  to  witness  impotently 
the  changes  that  had  taken  place  in  the  policy  of  his 
country,  but  had  abated  nothing  of  his  old  pre- 
judices nor  his  confidence  that  Korea  could  still  hold 
her  own  against  the  barbarians  of  the  West  as  she 
had  done  before.  The  new  departure  was  hateful  to 
him  ; still  more  hateful  to  him  was  the  Queen,  who 
was  mainly  responsible  for  this  departure  and  who 
had  brought  it  about,  not  from  any  patriotic  sense 
of  the  welfare  of  the  country,  but  as  a lever  for 
procuring  the  favour  of  the  King  and  office  for  the 
members  of  her  own  family.  His  political  adherents 
diligently  spread  his  views  among  a large  section 
of  the  people,  and  only  a spark  was  required  to 
kindle  the  flames  that  were  ready  to  burst  forth. 
A mutiny  among  the  Korean  troops  who  had  been 
defrauded  of  their  pay  by  a dishonest  officer  furnished 
the  spark.  For  two  months  they  had  received  neither 
pay  nor  rations.  A liberal  quantity  of  rice  of  the 


MODERN  KOREA— 1868-84 


309 


best  quality  was  ordered  to  be  distributed  among 
them,  but  the  commissariat  officer  charged  with  its 
distribution  sold  it  and  replaced  it  by  a less  quantity 
of  rice  of  an  inferior  quality,  and  the  deficiency 
in  weight  was  made  up  by  an  admixture  of  sand. 
The  infuriated  troops  broke  from  their  barracks  to 
vent  their  rage  on  the  officer,  whom  they  beat  to  death 
in  his  own  house,  and  on  the  Government.  From 
the  soldiers  the  disorder  spread  to  the  people,  and 
soon  a mob  of  four  thousand  soldiers  and  men,  mad 
with  fanaticism  and  personal  wrongs,  was  gathered, 
which  proceeded  to  vent  its  fury  on  all  the  ministers 
of  the  Government  who  were  thought  to  be  favour- 
able to  the  new  order  of  affairs.  Even  the  palace 
was  not  spared.  Instigated,  no  doubt,  by  the 
emissaries  of  the  Tai  Won  Kun,  an  attack  was  made 
on  it,  and  the  mob  made  their  way  into  the  apart- 
ments of  the  King  and  cut  down  in  his  presence  some 
of  his  principal  officials.  They  did  not  lay  hands 
on  the  King  himself,  but  they  angrily  demanded  the 
Queen.  She  disappeared,  and  it  was  for  some  time 
thought  that  she  had  been  murdered  and  her  body 
carried  away. 

When  the  riot  broke  out  several  Japanese,  suspect- 
ing nothing,  were  as  usual  scattered  throughout  the 
streets.  All  who  had  the  misfortune  to  meet  the 
mob  were  killed  at  once,  and  in  the  afternoon,  when 
the  rioters  had  exhausted  their  fury  against  their 
own  countrymen,  they  turned  on  the  Legation  and 
made  a combined  attack  on  it.  For  seven  hours  it 
was  gallantly  defended,  and  then  the  buildings  were 
set  on  fire  from  the  outside  and  the  defenders  were 
therefore  forced  to  evacuate  them.  Forming  into 
a wedge  and  keeping  together,  with  their  minister 
at  their  head,  the  small  Japanese  party  held  the 
great  mob  at  bay  with  their  swords  and  revolvers, 
and  fought  their  way  through  the  narrow  streets, 


310 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


all  the  time  under  a heavy  fusillade  of  stones. 
Stones,  it  might  be  thought,  are  but  poor  weapons 
when  opposed  to  revolvers,  but  the  Koreans  are  the 
most  expert  stone-throwers  in  the  world,  both  in 
their  accuracy  of  aim  and  in  the  force  and  distance 
of  the  throw.  Many  of  the  Japanese  were  wounded 
and  bruised.  Had  they  broken  all  must  have 
perished.  But,  like  brave  men,  they  kept  their  phalanx 
firmly,  and  carrying  their  wounded  in  the  centre,  they 
succeeded  as  night  fell  in  getting  out  of  the  city. 
They  were  twenty -six  miles  from  Chemulpo.  They 
had  no  food.  A deluge  of  rain  came  on  and  added 
to  the  miseries  of  their  long  night  march.  They 
lost  their  way  in  the  black  darkness,  and  it  was  not 
till  the  afternoon  of  the  following  day  that  they 
reached  the  port.  There  the  local  Korean  official 
provided  them  with  quarters  and  promised  to  protect 
them,  and,  worn  and  exhausted,  all  fell  down  on 
the  floors  of  the  rooms  that  were  given  to  them  and 
were  instantaneously  asleep.  They  were  soon  roused. 
Another  attack  was  made  on  them — again  they  had 
to  fight  their  way,  this  time  not  only  through  an 
angry  mob  but  against  disciplined  soldiers.  They 
at  last  reached  the  beach,  where  they  seized  a boat 
in  which  they  put  to  sea,  without  food  or  water, 
with  only  the  lightest  summer  clothing,  and  it  all 
in  rags,  to  protect  them  against  the  cold  of  night, 
without  one  expert  boatman  among  their  number. 
They  knew,  however,  that  H.M.S.  Flying  Fish  was 
somewhere  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  after  having 
been  for  one  day  and  a half  at  sea  they  were  seen 
and  rescued  by  her  and  brought  to  Nagasaki.  Five 
of  their  original  number  had  been  killed,  and  five 
of  those  taken  on  board  the  Flying  Fish  were  seri- 
ously wounded.  Four  more  were  killed  by  the  mob 
in  Seoul  at  the  first  outbreak,  before  they  could 
find  refuge  in  the  Legation. 


MODERN  KOREA— 1868-84 


311 


The  Tai  Won  Kun  enjoyed  a momentary  triumph. 
He  was  once  more  back  in  power.  The  hated  Queen 
had  disappeared,  and  was  supposed  to  be  dead.  The 
Japanese  had  gone,  and  the  King  was  entirely  under 
his  influence.  But  on  August  i 6th,  within  less  than 
a month  from  the  burning  of  their  Legation,  the 
Japanese  were  back  again,  the  minister  being  this 
time  accompanied  by  a strong  military  force  which 
could  be  reinforced  in  a day  from  the  fleet  of  war- 
ships that  was  now  lying  off  Chemulpo.  He  had 
brought  with  him  an  ultimatum  from  his  Government, 
demanding  satisfaction  for  the  outrage  on  the  Lega- 
tion and  the  murders  of  Japanese  citizens,  and  the 
Tai  Won  Kun  had  no  choice  but  to  stifle  his  pride 
and  accept  the  terms  that  were  offered  to  him.  They 
included  a substantial  indemnity,  an  apology,  the 
punishment  of  the  leaders  of  the  rioters,  new  privi- 
leges for  Japanese  traders,  and  the  right  to  station 
Japanese  troops  in  the  capital  for  the  protection  of 
the  Legation — all  bitter  pills  for  the  savage  old  tyrant 
to  swallow.  The  last  condition  presents  another 
parallel  between  the  early  European  events  in  Japan 
and  the  Japanese  in  Korea.  When  British  and 
French  troops  were  stationed  in  Yokohama,  the 
Japanese  Government  was  called  upon  to  provide 
barracks  for  them  at  its  own  cost.  It  had  never 
made  any  agreement  to  do  so,  and  Sir  Harry  Parkes, 
the  British  Minister  in  Japan  at  the  time,  never  under- 
stood on  what  principle  the  burthen  was  thrown  upon 
it.  Japan  was  neither  a conquered  nor  a hostile 
country,  but  both  the  British  and  French  Governments 
instructed  their  representatives  to  insist  on  it.  That 
of  Japan  was  too  weak  to  resist  ; extensive  barracks 
were  built  and  kept  in  repair  during  the  whole  time 
— more  than  ten  years — in  which  British  and  French 
troops  were  in  Japan,  entirely  at  the  cost  of  the 
Japanese  Government.  To  this  day  the  injury  which 


312 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


was  thus  added  to  insult  rankles  in  the  hearts  of 
the  Japanese,  but  they  followed  the  precedent  them- 
selves in  Korea,  and  the  Korean  Government  was 
called  upon  to  provide  and  pay  for  proper  quarters 
for  the  Japanese  troops  whom  they  were  forced  to 
admit  into  their  capital. 

Li  Hung  Chang  was  at  this  time  Viceroy  of  Chili, 
and  the  director  of  China’s  foreign  policy.  Korea 
had  declared  her  independence  when  she  made  her 
treaty  with  Japan,  and  when  China  sanctioned  the 
independent  relationship  which  Korea  then  assumed 
with  a foreign  Power,  she  ostensibly  abandoned  her 
own  title  to  exercise  any  authority  in  the  future  in 
Korea’s  affairs,  but  the  stroke  of  a pen  was  not 
sufficient  to  permanently  loosen  the  ties  and  senti- 
ments of  suzerainty  that  had  existed  for  centuries. 
Frightened  by  the  presence  of  the  Japanese  troops 
and  warships,  Korea  appealed  to  China,  and  China 
answered  by  dispatching  to  Seoul  a large  force  of 
the  troops  which,  under  the  direction  of  Li  Hung 
Chang,  had  been  drilled  and  equipped  according  to 
the  latest  Western  models,  and  held  ready  for  any 
emergency  in  the  garrison  of  Tientsin.  For  a time 
a collision  seemed  to  be  imminent  between  the 
Japanese  and  Chinese,  but  it  was  averted  by  the 
withdrawal  of  the  latter  from  the  capital.  The  camp 
which  they  established  a few  miles  beyond  its  walls 
became  a permanent  one,  the  ostensible  reason  for 
its  maintenance  being  the  duty  which  China  owed 
to  her  vassal  King,  who  had  received  his  investiture 
from  the  Emperor,  to  protect  him  if  necessary  against 
his  own  rebellious  subjects,  and  to  maintain  him  on 
his  throne.  The  Japanese,  on  the  other  hand,  when 
their  new  treaty  had  been  signed,  withdrew  all  the 
forces  that  they  had  in  the  first  instance  sent  to  sup- 
port their  minister,  with  the  exception  of  a guard  of 
one  or  two  companies  of  infantry  for  their  Legation. 


MODERN  KOREA— 1868-84 


313 


Li  Hung  Chang  was  evidently  determined  thence- 
forth to  make  the  influence  of  China  felt  in  the 
peninsular  kingdom.  One  of  the  ablest  of  his  sub- 
ordinates was  sent  as  commissioner  to  the  capital 
with  instructions  to  take  an  active  part  in  its  domestic 
affairs  ; and  his  first  act  was  one  that  showed  how 
China,  even  when  under  the  control  of  the  enlightened 
Viceroy,  still  adhered  in  her  foreign  diplomacy  to 
her  old  methods  of  duplicity  and  cunning.  The  Tai 
.Won  Kun  was  invited  to  visit  the  Chinese  camp. 
Once  within  its  fences,  he  was  made  a prisoner,  and 
having  been  unceremoniously  bundled  on  board  one 
of  the  Chinese  men-of-war  that  lay  off  the  coast,  he 
was  carried  to  Tientsin,  where  he  was  fated  to 
remain  in  captivity  for  three  years.  With  his  re- 
moval, the  most  disturbing  element  in  the  foreign 
affairs  of  Korea  disappeared,  and  the  King  was  at 
liberty  to  continue  the  relations  which  he  had  begun 
with  Western  powers  and  the  progressive  policy  to 
which  his  father  was  so  bitterly  opposed.  In  the 
foreign  affairs  of  Korea  China  disclaimed  all  in- 
fluence, and  thus  pursued  a double  course.  On  the 
one  side,  she  openly  avowed  her  duty  and  intention 
to  maintain  the  King  on  his  throne.  On  the  other, 
she  left  to  him  the  control  of  his  foreign  relations  and 
the  entire  responsibility  for  whatever  obligations  he 
might  incur  to  foreign  powers.  The  Queen,  who 
it  was  thought  had  perished  in  the  disturbance  of 
July,  and  for  whom  national  mourning  had  been 
ordered,  reappeared  safe  and  well.  When  the 
mutineers  were  searching  for  her  through  the  palace 
on  the  night  of  the  great  outbreak,  one  of  the  palace 
guardsmen  threw  a veil  over  her  and  carried  her 
on  his  back  right  through  the  midst  of  the  mob 
out  of  the  palace.  He  was  repeatedly  stopped  and 
questioned,  but  said  that  he  was  taking  his  mother, 
who  was  one  of  the  palace  servants,  to  a place  of 


314 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


safety.  For  the  night  the  Queen  was  hid  in  an 
humble  house  in  the  town.  On  the  following  day  she 
was  taken  in  a common  travelling  chair,  unattended, 
by  mountain  paths  to  a remote  village  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Chhung  Chyong,  and  there  she  remained 
in  obscurity  for  two  months.  Then,  when  all  was 
quiet  again,  the  fact  that  she  was  alive  was  dis- 
closed, and  she  was  brought  back  to  the  palace  in 
becoming  state  and  restored  to  her  proper  dignity. 
One  of  the  chairmen  who  assisted  in  her  escape  after- 
wards rose  to  a high  position  in  the  State,  and  will 
be  mentioned  subsequently. 

During  the  two  years  which  followed  the  outbreak 
of  1882  intercourse  increased  between  Japan  and 
Korea.  The  apology  for  the  attack  on  the  Legation 
was  brought  by  a special  embassy  to  Tokio,  and 
during  its  stay  the  members  made  a thorough  study 
of  the  progress  Japan  had  achieved  in  Western 
civilisation,  now  much  more  apparent  than  in  1875, 
and  became  profoundly  impressed  with  its  results. 
Some  of  them  remained  in  Tokio  when  the  embassy 
had  performed  its  function,  and  their  official  status 
was  at  an  end  ; other  Koreans  of  good  birth  came  as 
students  or  sightseers,  and  when  they  returned  home 
they  were  full  of  progressive  ideas,  and  eager  to  see 
their  own  countrymen  embark  on  the  career  which 
Japan  had  so  successfully  pursued.  Political  parties, 
the  everlasting  curse  of  Korea,  thwarted  all  their 
hopes.  The  influence  of  the  Queen  over  the  King 
was  all-powerful.  When  her  old  enemy,  the  Tai 
Won  Kun,  was  still  a factor  in  the  State,  she  had 
opposed  his  conservative  intolerance,  but  it  was  the 
man  and  not  the  policy  to  which  she  objected.  When 
he  was  removed  from  the  scene  all  the  offices  in. 
the  State  were  once  more  filled  by  her  relatives, 
and  their  conservatism  was  traditional.  All  their 
sympathies  were  with  the  old  civilisation  of  China, 


SEOUL — THE  SOUTH  GATE  OF  THE  CITV. 


jaoiEa: 


MODERN  KOREA— 1868-84 


315 


and  the  reformers  who  had  come  back  from  Japan, 
who  were  members  of  rival  families  to  the  Min, 
could  find  no  outlet  for  their  abilities  and  aspirations. 
Two  new  parties  were  formed — that  of  the  Queen 
and  her  relatives  on  the  one  side,  whose  platform 
was  conservatism  and  the  friendship  and  protection 
of  China,  and  that  of  the  reformers  on  the  other,  with 
the  platform  of  progress,  which  would  gradually 
enable  Korea  to  stand  alone,  and  the  friendship  and 
support  of  Japan.  Beneath  these  outward  professions 
there  were,  however,  the  old  family  antagonisms, 
which  were  too  deeply  planted  in  the  hearts  of  all 
to  be  eradicated  even  by  the  new  condition  in  which 
Korea  now  found  herself.  Reform  and  progress  were 
weapons  that  could  be  used  in  the  destruction  of 
family  rivals  as  well  as  for  the  benefit  of  the  country. 

Diplomatic  and  consular  representatives  of  other 
powers  were  now  resident  in  Seoul.  Great  Britain 
had  concluded  a new  treaty.  It  has  been  mentioned 
already  that  a treaty  had  been  made  in  the  early  part 
of  1883.  Great  Britain  was  then  represented  at 
Tokio  by  Sir  Harry  Parkes,  the  greatest  diplomatist 
and  consul  of  any  nationality  that  has  ever  served 
in  fhe  Far  East,  whose  knowledge  of  both  China 
and  Japan,  and  whose  appreciation  of  all  the  essential 
elements  of  the  political  and  commercial  interests 
of  the  British  Empire  in  the  Far  East  were  founded 
on  a lifelong  experience  of  both  countries.  His 
services  were  of  course  available  for  the  negotia- 
tion of  the  new  treaty  with  Korea,  but  for  some  in- 
scrutable reason  the  task  was  entrusted  by  the  British 
Government,  not  to  the  well-tried  and  trusted 
diplomatist  but  to  the  admiral  who  chanced  at  the 
moment  to  hold  the  command  of  the  fleet  on  thp 
China  Station.  The  result  was  most  unsatisfactory. 
The  diplomatic  skill  of  the  gallant  admiral  was  on 
a par  with  his  knowledge  of  Asiatic  people,  and 


316 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


the  treaty  was  deficient  in  many  points  that  were 
of  vital  importance  for  the  conduct  of  trade  and  the 
security  of  British  subjects  resident  in  Korea.  For- 
tunately, the  first  blunder  could  be  amended.  The 
admiral’s  treaty  was  not  ratified,  and  in  April,  1884, 
Sir  Harry  Parkes  was  sent  to  Seoul,  commissioned 
to  conclude  a new  treaty.  His  commanding  person- 
ality, long  Eastern  experience,  and  profound  know- 
ledge of  the  Asiatic  character  enabled  him  to 
accomplish  his  task  within  a fortnight,  the  new  treaty 
being  as  complete  in  all  its  provisions  as  the  first 
was  the  reverse.  Sir  Harry  Parkes  was  accompanied 
by  his  daughter,'  who,  though  little  more  than  a 
girl  in  years,  had  already  presided  with  her  father 
for  two  years  over  the  Legations  at  Tokio  and  Peking. 
The  wife  of  the  first  United  States  Minister  (was 
already  in  the  capital,  and  the  conclusion  of  the 
British  treaty  was  signalised  by  another  marked  de- 
parture from  ancient  customs.  Both  ladies  were 
invited  to  an  audience  with  the  Queen  at  the  palace, 
the  two  being  the  first  women  of  the  West,  not  only 
to  be  admitted  within  the  sealed  precincts  of  the 
women’s  quarters  of  the  palace  but  to  enter  the 
capital.  The  Queen,  who  less  than  two  years  before 
had  fled  in  disguise  from  murderous  assassins,  whose 
life  had  only  been  saved  by  the  devoted  self-sacrifice 
of  one  of  the  palace  ladies  and  the  courage  and 
loyalty  of  some  of  her  humblest  servants,  prov’^ed  to 
be  a most  gracious  lady,  who,  with  all  her  con- 
servative prejudices,  with  all  her  attachment  to  the 
time-honoured  customs  of  antiquity  could  discharge 
the  new  social  duties  of  her  great  station  with  no  less 
charms  of  tact,  dignity,  and  kindliness  than  would 
have  been  shown  by  one  of  her  European  sisters  at 
a similar  function. 

* Now  Mrs.  J.  T Keswick,  of  Mabie,  Dumfriesshire. 


MODERN  KOREA— 1868-84 


317 


Mrs.  Keswick  has  kindly  furnished  the  writer  with 
the  following  description  (written  at  the  time)  of  her 
audience  with  the  Queen  : — 

“Yesterday  (May  7,  1884)  Mrs.  Foote,  the  wife  of  the  American 
Minister  and  I were  presented  at  the  Korean  Court.  An  invitation 
from  the  Queen  had  come  to  us  the  previous  day,  and  we  arrived  in 
the  Palace  grounds  at  the  appointed  hour — four  o’clock.  In  the 
grounds  we  were  received  at  some  distance  from  the  Palace  itself  by 
two  ladies  in  waiting,  the  gentlemen,  both  of  the  two  Legations  and 
Korean,  who  had  hitherto  escorted  us  not  being  permitted  to 
accompany  us  any  further.  The  ladies  were  in  full  court  costume, 
long  baggy  white  trousers  and  sweeping  blue  grenadine  skirts  and 
small  cape  bodies ; over  all,  a robe  of  stiff  green  brocade  which 
came  down  to  the  knees  and  was  fastened  behind  by  a crimson  belt 
which  hung  low  down.  Their  hair  was  dressed  very  high  on  their 
heads  in  the  most  elaborate  style  of  plaits  and  bows  and  they  wore 
neat  little  shoes  and  white  stockings. 

“ We  were  conducted  by  the  ladies  to  a small  summer-house  where 
cakes  and  coffee  were  handed  to  us.  Then  we  were  shown  round  the 
grounds  and  into  some  of  the  ladies’  private  apartments  which  were 
quite  devoid  of  furniture  (d  la  Japonaise),  and  then,  after  waiting  for 
about  an  hour,  we  were  informed  that  their  Majesties  were  ready  to 
receive  us.  We  were  ushered  into  a courtyard,  up  some  steep  steps, 
and  into  a long  room  open  down  one  side  and  hung  with  fine 
bamboo  mats.  The  Queen  was  seated  behind  a table  on  the  right 
of  the  King,  and  the  little  Prince  on  his  left.  The  Queen  was  very 
much  painted  and  powdered  and  wore  the  same  dress  as  her 
waiting  women,  only  on  her  uppermost  robe  she  had  some  gold 
embroidery  on  the  shoulders  which,  at  a distance,  reminded  one 
of  epaulettes.  The  King’s  robe  was  crimson  and  he  had  also  the 
gold  on  the  shoulders  ; he  wore  the  high  official  cap.  The  Prince, 
a bright  little  fellow,  eleven  years  old,  was  dressed  in  a robe  of  some 
dark  material  and  was  just  the  image  of  his  father.  Both  King  and 
Queen  were  very  gracious  ; they  inquired  how  I liked  their  country, 
and  were  very  much  surprised  to  hear  that  I rode  on  horseback  ; 
they  expressed  their  pleasure  at  the  satisfactory  settlement  of 
the  Treaty,  and  hoped  that  both  countries  would  always  remain 
on  good  terms  with  one  another.  Then  the  little  Prince  got  down 
from  his  chair  and  came  to  shake  hands  with  us.  They  inquired 
how  old  I was,  how  many  brothers  and  sisters  I had,  and  what  their 


318 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


ages  were,  and  they  hoped  I had  received  good  news  from  home  ; 
they  also  conversed  very  pleasantly  with  Mrs.  Foote. 

“ The  Queen  is  very  small,  but  evidently  understands  how  to  hold 
her  own,  and  rules  the  King  who  is  a bright,  cheery,  little  man. 
After  the  reception  had  lasted  about  half  an  hour,  their  Majesties 
suggested  that  we  might  be  tired,  so  we  were  invited  to  retire  and 
rest  in  a small  room  adjoining  where  sweetmeats  and  cups  of 
tea  were  offered  to  us.  We  were  then  informed  that  some  fireworks 
had  been  arranged  for  our  entertainment  which  were  to  take  place 
later,  and  that,  therefore,  the  Queen  hoped  that  we  would  remain  to 
dinner.  Of  course  we  accepted  the  invitation  with  much  pleasure. 

“ Whilst  we  were  resting,  the  Queen  sent  in  a little  present  to 
Mrs.  Foote  and  myself  which  consisted  of  a small  workbox  con- 
taining many  little  cushions  and  cases  prettily  embroidered  and 
worked  by  the  ladies  of  the  Palace.  One  amusing  incident  occurred 
which  I must  just  mention.  Whilst  resting  after  our  audience  with 
the  Queen,  some  of  the  ministers  and  chamber  ladies  of  the  Palace 
came  in  to  see  us,  and  one  of  the  oldest  of  them,  who  wished  to 
be  very  polite,  took  out  his  cigar  case  and  offered  us  each  a large 
cigar  ! I refused,  of  course,  thanking  him  at  the  same  time,  and 
explaining  that  it  was  not  the  rule  with  English  ladies  to  smoke.  I 
should  perhaps  mention  here  that  all  the  Korean  women  and  even 
children  smoke  a great  deal,  you  scarcely  ever  see  the  former 
without  long  pipes  in  their  mouths.  After  this  we  had  another 
interview  with  their  Majesties ; this  time,  however,  they  were  in 
simple  everyday  dress— the  King  in  loose  robe  and  high  hat,  the 
Queen  in  the  ordinary  petticoat  and  cape  of  the  Korean  women. 
She  is  evidently  a spirited,  courageous  little  woman,  and  as  I looked 
at  her  seated  there,  surrounded  by  her  court,  I could  not  help 
thinking  of  the  time  two  years  ago,  when  a rebellion  occurred 
in  Korea  and  she  had  to  fly  for  her  life.  Three  times  she  was 
captured  by  the  rebels,  and  the  third  time  she  only  escaped  by 
disguising  herself  as  a peasant  woman  : so  she  has  truly  experienced 
dangers  and  vicissitudes  in  her  life. 

“ When  it  became  dark,  we  dined.  Some  of  the  Korean  Ministers 
were  present  and  two  of  our  officers  were  also  invited,  the  first 
time  that  gentlemen  had  been  admitted  to  the  palace.  The  dinner 
was  served  in  foreign  style,  the  waiters  were  not  great  adepts 
at  serving,  but  all  was  nicely  arranged  and  the  food  was  well 
cooked.  The  conversation  flagged  rather  as,  having  only  one 
interpreter,  we  could  not  all  talk  at  once,  but  the  Ministers  tried 
to  make  themselves  agreeable  by  signs  and  their  intentions  were 


MODERN  KOREA— 1868-84 


319 


friendly.  When  the  dinner  was  over,  we  rejoined  the  ladies  and 
witnessed  the  fireworks  from  a little  pavilion.  The  court  was 
lighted  with  lanterns  of  various  colours  which  made  the  scene  look 
gay.  The  fireworks  were  nothing  very  striking,  some  in  the  shape 
of  Korean  characters  for  happiness  and  some  fire  fountains  were  the 
only  pretty  or  novel  ones  that  I saw.  We  were  getting  rather 
weary  too  for  we  had  been  nearly  six  hours  at  the  palace,  and  our 
minds  were  on  the  stretch  the  whole  time ; so  when  shortly  after- 
wards we  received  a message  from  the  Queen  saying  she  would  like 
to  see  us  once  more  before  leaving,  we  were  very  glad  and 
went  immediately.  The  King,  Queen,  and  Prince  were  seated 
as  before  at  their  respective  tables.  The  Queen  began  the 
conversation  (as  usual)  asking  how  we  liked  the  fireworks.  We 
thanked  her  for  the  entertainment,  and  said  we  had  spent  a very 
pleasant  time  at  the  palace.  Then  we  were  introduced  to  the 
Prince’s  little  betrothed  bride,  a nice  child  of  thirteen  years  old, 
very  shy,  poor  little  mite,  and  very  much  painted  and  powdered. 
After  a little  more  conversation,  we  bowed  our  adieus  and  left, 
being  escorted  home  by  some  of  the  King’s  soldiers  carrying 
the  gay  lanterns  that  had  illuminated  the  court  during  the  fireworks 
— so  we  were  informed — quite  an  imposing  procession.” 

The  following  is  a translation  of  the  letter  of 
which  a reduced  facsimile  is  given  on  page  13 1 : — 

“ On  the  15th  day  of  the  4th  month  of  the  493rd  year  of  Great 
Chosen,  Ha,  Lady  of  the  Household  of  the  first  rank,  desires  to 
know  how  Miss  Parkes  has  passed  the  night.  Yesterday,  when  she 
arrived  here  she  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  robust  health,  but  Madame 
Ha  fears  she  must  have  been  greatly  fatigued.  She  hopes  she 
has  rested  well  and  is  now  quite  restored. 

“The three  Palaces  (King,  Queen  and  Crown  Prince)  are  well  and 
send  their  compliments. 

“ Her  Majesty  the  Queen  sends  by  a messenger  a few  poor 
specimens  of  Korean  productions  which  she  begs  Miss  Parkes 
to  accept,  and  is  sorry  they  are  not  of  more  value.” 


CHAPTER  XV 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905 

There  now  seemed  to  be  a complete  change  both 
in  the  Government  and  people  in  their  attitude 
towards  foreigners.  Reforms  and  industries  founded 
on  Western  models  were  introduced.  The  streets  of 
the  capital,  which  had  hitherto  continued  to  justify  the 
description  given  of  them  by  the  Japanese  in  1876, 
were  cleansed,  alterations  were  made  in  the  Court 
dress,  a model  farm  established,  and  a powder-mill 
erected.  New  treaties  were  signed,  European  diplo- 
matists took  up  their  permanent  residences  in  the 
capital,  and  a still  greater  departure  was  made  when 
a special  embassy  was  sent  to  the  United  ^States 
with  a near  relative  of  the  Queen  at  its  head.  The 
ambassador,  whose  name  was  Min  Yong  Ik,  was 
at  the  time  one  of  the  most  progressive  of  the  Court 
nobles.  He  had  already  visited  Japan  and  brought 
back  with  him  a conviction  that  Korea’s  hope  for 
the  future  lay  in  her  following  the  example  that 
Japan  held  forth  to  her,  and  he  had  since  used  bis 
position  in  the  Court  and  his  family  connection  with 
the  Throne  to  impress  his  own  convictions  on  the 
King,  not  without  success.  The  King  was  evidently 
adapting  himself  to  the  altered  conditions  of  the 
time.  The  strong-minded  and  influential  Queen  had 
showm  her  willingness  to  meet  Europeans  in  social 
intercourse  : several  of  the  progressive  party  had 

been  nominated  to  responsible  posts  in  the  Govern- 

830 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  321 


ment  ; and  while  the  officials  of  opposite  tendency 
were  not  only  numerous  but  still  held  the  most  im- 
portant offices  of  the  State,  they  were  obliged  to  cloak 
their  prejudices  in  sullen  silence.  Last  of  all,  the 
Tai  Won  Kun,  the  archangel  of  bigotry,  was  a 
prisoner  in  China.  All  seemed  to  promise  well  for 
a fair  future  of  peace  and  progress,  when  once  more 
the  curse  of  party  faction  cast  its  poisonous  blight 
on  Court,  Government,  and  people. 

The  Progressionists  were  not  satisfied  with  all 
they  had  achieved.  As  in  Japan  in  the  seventies  and 
even  later,  as  at  the  present  day  among  our  own 
subjects  in  India,  their  leaders  wanted  to  run  before 
they  had  learnt  to  walk  without  stumbling,  to  accom- 
plish in  a day  the  reforms  that  in  other  countries 
had  only  been  achieved  after  centuries  of  struggle 
and  study.  Murder  has  ever  been  one  of  the  principal 
party  weapons  in  Korea,  and  the  Progressionists  now 
resolved  to  use  it  for  the  removal  of  the  leading 
Conservative  ministers  from  the  side  and  councils  of 
the  King. 

On  the  night  of  December  4,  1884,  a State  banquet 
was  given  to  celebrate  the  opening  of  a new  post- 
office.  It  was  attended  by  all  the  foreign  diplomatic 
representatives  except  the  Japanese,  by  the  principal 
ministers  of  the  Government,  and  by  many  of  the 
great  nobles.  Among  the  latter  was  Min  Yong  Ik, 
the  fonner  ambassador  to  the  United  States.  He  had 
in  the  interval  which  had  passed  since  his  return 
disassociated  himself  from  the  Progressionists  and 
espoused  the  party  of  the  Conservatives  and  had, 
in  consequence,  become  the  object  of  intense  ani- 
mosity on  fhe  part  of  the  former.  Towards  the 
close  of  the  banquet  a fire  broke  out  in  an  adjoining 
building,  and  the  party  broke  up  ; Min  Yong  Ik, 
one  of  the  duties  of  whose  office  was  to  superintend 
the  measures  for  the  prevention  of  fire,  hurried  out 

21 


322 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


in  advance  of  the  rest  of  the  guests.  He  had  scarcely 
got  outside  the  gateway  when  he  was  suddenly 
attacked  by  armed  men,  and  received  several  severe 
sword  wounds.  While  the  confusion  and  alarm  of  the 
ministers  at  this  incident  were  at  their  height,  the 
progressive  leaders  hastened  to  the  palace,  and  there 
the  King,  already  inclined  towards  their  policy  of 
reform,  was  completely  under  their  influence.  It 
was  not  difficult  to  persuade  him  that  a general 
conspiracy  had  broken  out,  that  both  his  throne  and 
his  life  were  in  danger,  and  that  his  hope  of  safety 
lay  in  obtaining  the  protection  of  the  Japanese  against 
his  own  subjects  who  hated  his  liberal  tendencies. 
Two  messengers  were  promptly  dispatched  to  the 
Japanese  minister  (who,  it  is  to  be  remembered, 
was  not  present  at  the  banquet)  with  letters  request- 
ing his  immediate  presence  at  the  palace.  They 
were  followed  by  a third  bearing  an  autograph  letter 
from  the  King  to  the  same  effect,  and  the  Japanese 
minister  promptly  complied  and  proceeded  to  the 
palace  at  the  head  of  his  entire  guard  of  130  soldiers 
under  the  command  of  a captain.  Japanese  sentries 
were  placed  at  all  the  gates  of  the  palace*,  the  King’s 
own  chambers  were  surrounded  by  a strong  guard, 
and  the  King,  now  effectually  cut  off  from  all  com- 
munication with  his  responsible  ministers,  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  progressive  conspirators.  Justice  in 
Korea  was  speedy  when  it  had  to  be  directed  against 
political  adversaries.  The  power  of  life  and  death 
over  all  his  subjects  without  distinction  of  rank  was 
always  the  prerogative  of  the  King.  Warrants  were 
issued  in  his  name,  and  before  dawn  broke  seven 
of  his  ministers,  all  prominent  Conservative  leaders, 
had  been  arrested  and  summarily  executed.  Several 
of  the  King’s  own  personal  attendants,  eunuchs  and 
others,  known  to  be  favourable  to  the  Consen-atives, 
met  with  the  same  fate.  All  the  vacant  offices  wene 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  323 


then  conferred  on  the  progressive  leaders,  and  their 
party  was  now  established  in  power. 

Their  triumph  was  short-lived — shorter  even  than 
had  been  that  of  the  Tai  Won  Kun  in  1882.  The 
surviving  Conservatives  sent  tidings  of  what  had 
happened  to  the  commander  of  the  Chinese  troops 
outside  the  capital,  and  appealed  for  his  help  to 
protect  the  King  against  his  own  rebellious  subjects. 
This  was  the  duty  for  which  Chinese  troops  were 
kept  in  Korea,  and  the  commander  had  therefore  no 
hesitation  in  complying  with  the  appeal  made  to 
him.  He  at  once  marched  his  men  to  the  palace  ; 
there  they  were  met  by  the  Japanese,  already  in 
possession,  and  a brisk  encounter  took  place  between 
the  two.  The  Japanese  fought  with  their  usual 
bravery,  but  the  overwhelming  numbers  of  the 
Chinese,  who  were  no  less  well-drilled  and  armed 
than  the  Japanese,  gave  them  the  victory.  The  palace 
gates  were  taken.  The  Japanese  minister  and  troops 
had  to  retreat  to  their  own  Legation,  losing  several 
of  their  men  as  they  did  so,  but  preserving  good 
order,  and  the  Progressionists  were  left  to  their  fate. 
A few  of  them  succeeded  in  escaping  to  the  Japanese 
Legation,  and  thence  out  of  the  country,  but  the 
majority  were  taken  and  hacked  to  pieces  by  their 
own  infuriated  countrymen.  They  had  enjoyed  two 
days  of  power. 

How  far  the  Japanese  Minister  was  responsible 
for  the  original  conspiracy,  whether  he  was  a con- 
scious partner  in  it,  or  his  own  want  of  judgment 
and  perspicacity  made  him  merely  a tool  in  the  hands 
of  the  astute  and  unscrupulous  Koreans,  is  not 
publicly  known,  though  a critical  investigation  of 
all  the  facts  that  are  known  tend  to  show  that  he 
was  both  a tool  and  a conspirator.  He  did  not 
attend  the  banquet  which  afforded  the  opportunity 
for  the  first  outbreak,  though,  as  doyen  of  the  diplo- 


324 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


matic  corps,  it  was  peculiarly  his  duty  to  have  done 
so,  unless  prevented  by  ill-health.  His  Legation 
guard  was  already  paraded  in  full  order,  with  arms 
and  ammunition,  and  ready  to  march  when  the  first 
messenger  from  the  palace  arrived  there  ; but  this 
was  afterwards  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  troops’ 
orders  required  them  always  to  parade  in  case  of 
fire.  Both  he  and  his  staff  had  been  ostentatiously 
on  such  intimate  terms  of  friendship  with  the  pro- 
gressive leaders  that  the  latter  had  come  to  be  gener- 
ally known  in  Korea  as  “ the  Japanese  party.”  One 
of  the  chief  eunuchs  of  the  palace  was  murdered 
in  his  presence,  and  with  all  his  own  soldiers  at 
his  elbow  he  made  no  attempt  to  protect  the  un- 
fortunate man  by  force,  though  he  is  said  to  have 
remonstrated  with  the  murderers.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  degree  of  responsibility,  his  action 
was  equally  unfortunate  for  the  good  name  of  his 
own  country,  for  Korea,  and  for  his  political  friends, 
who  would  not  have  stirred  had  they  not  felt  they 
could  rely  on  his  moral  and  material  support. 

The  hatred  of  the  lower  classes  of  Korea  for  the 
Japanese,  transmitted  from  their  ancestors  of  the 
time  of  Hideyoshi,  had  not  been  in  the  least  minimised 
by  the  new  order  of  affairs.  The  capital  w'as  in  a 
condition  of  universal  riot  during  the  following  days 
of  the  emeute,  and  placid  and  gentle  as  are  the 
Koreans  in  their  ordinary  lives,  no  nation  in  the 
world  can  furnish  a mob  that  is  more  cruel,  more 
reckless  of  their  o\vn  and  others’  lives,  than  they 
when  their  passions  are  fully  roused.  When  all  the 
Progressionists  who  could  be  found  had  been  killed 
and  their  homes  pillaged  and  burnt,  the  wrath  of 
the  rioters  turned  tow^ards  the  Japanese.  All  whose 
houses  were  scattered  through  the  city  met  the  same 
fate  as  the  progressive  conspirators,  and  then  the 
Legation  itself  was  attacked.  The  staff  and  guard 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  325 


had  been  increased  by  refugees,  both  Japanese  and 
Korean,  who  had  escaped  from  the  streets,  and 
there  were  now  nearly  three  hundred  persons  in  all, 
including  several  women  and  children,  inside  its 
walls.  There  were  no  provisions,  not  even  water, 
for  so  large  a number.  They  were  shut  off  from 
all  hope  of  help.  The  Government  was  disorganised  ; 
the  troops  whom  it  could  have  summoned  to  restore 
order  were  joined  with  the  rioters,  and  all  were  now 
gathered  round  the  walls  of  the  Legation  thirsting 
for  the  blood  of  its  inmates.  The  situation  was  a 
herald  in  a small  way  of  what  occurred  in  Peking 
in  1900 — different,  however,  from  it  in  that  the  garri- 
son, without  provisions  or  the  possibility  of  obtaining 
them,  had  no  other  resource  than  that  of  fighting 
their  way  out  of  the  Legation  and  the  city  to  the 
sea  coast  as  their  predecessors  had  done  two  years 
before. 

The  minister  was  not  the  same  as  the  one  who 
had*  the  same  trying  experience  in  1882  ; but  what- 
ever the  diplomatic  blunders  of  the  present  had  been, 
when  it  came  to  a physical  fight  for  his  own  pre- 
servation and  that  of  his  countrymen  who  looked  to 
him  for  protection,  he  showed  no  less  courage  and 
resource  than  his  predecessor.  The  soldiers  were 
formed  into  a square,  with  women,  children,  wounded, 
and  Korean  refugees  in  the  centre,  and  the  whole 
body  then  fought  their  way  through  the  streets 
swarming  with  rioters,  both  civilians  and  soldiers 
who  had  cast  aside  all  the  bonds  of  discipline,  to 
the  great  southern  gate  of  the  city.  This  they 
found  barred  against  them.  It  was  of  solid  con- 
struction and  great  strength,  but  fortunately  among 
the  Japanese  were  some  carpenters  who  had  brought 
their  axes  with  them  in  their  retreat  and  they  cut 
a way  through  for  the  whole  party.  Marching 
through  the  whole  night,  through  heavy  falls  of  snow 


326 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


as  their  predecessors  had  done  through  storms  of 
rain,  suffering  severely  from  the  bitter  cold  and 
impeded  by  the  women  and  children,  they  reached 
Chemulpo  without  further  loss  in  eighteen  hours. 

Long  diplomatic  negotiations  followed  this  affair. 
The  Japanese  people  again  clamoured  for  war,  this 
time  even  more  loudly  against  China  than  against 
Korea,  but  two  of  the  ablest  ministers  that  Japan 
ever  possessed,  I to  and  Inouye,  were  entrusted  with 
a settlement,  the  former  with  China  and  the  latter 
with  Korea,  and  both  were  eminently  successful.  An 
agreement  was  come  to  and  signed  at  Tientsin  on 
April  19,  1885,  defining  the  relations  that  China  and 
Japan  should  for  the  future  occupy  towards  each 
other  in  Korea,  the  principal  items  of  which  were 
that  both  should  withdraw  their  troops  from  Korea, 
that  neither  should  again  dispatch  troops  to  the 
peninsula  without  previous  notice  to  the  other  ; and 
that  Korea  should  be  encouraged  by  both  powers  to 
work  out  her  o\vn  salvation  in  the  paths  of  progress 
and  good  government.  In  his  negotiations  with 
Korea,  Inouye  had  an  easier  task  than  his  colleague 
in  China.  He  knew  that  Japan,  in  the  person  of 
her  accredited  representative,  had  not  been  guilt- 
less, and  he  easily  obtained  the  moderate  indemnity 
which  he  asked  for  the  murdered  Japanese  and  for 
the  Legation,  which  had  been  destroyed  by  the  rioters 
after  its  evacuation. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  follow  in  detail  the  history 
of  Korea  during  the  next  ten  years.  Japan  had 
for  the  time  being  destroyed  all  possibility  of  in- 
fluencing the  country,  either  for  its  or  her  own  good. 
She  was  sincerely  desirous  of  leading  it  into  the  paths 
of  modern  progress,  of  helping  it  to  acquire  such 
strength  and  knowledge  as  would  in  time  enable 
it  to  take  care  of  itself,  even  against  Russia.  But 
she  had  lost  the  chance  of  gaining  respect  and  affec- 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  327 


tion  on  the  part  of  her  pupil,  without  which  no 
teacher,  no  matter  how  accomplished  or  earnest,  can 
ever  be  successful.  Hatred,  bitter  and  intense,  was 
the  predominant  feeling  in  Korean  hearts  to  Japan 
and  the  Japanese.  Korea  was  flung  into  the  arms  of 
her  old  suzerain  by  the  events  of  1884.  The  Queen, 
the  courtiers,  all  the  principal  officials  of  the 
kingdom,  who  were  all  members  of  the  Queen’s 
family,  were  devoted  to  China  and  all  that  the  Con- 
servatism of  China  implied.  Some  of  them  were 
bigoted  followers  of  Confucianism,  saturated  with 
a veneration  for  his  philosophy  that  rendered  all 
sympathy  with  European  thought  or  science  im- 
possible. Some,  more  practical  statesmen,  honestly 
believed  that  Korea’s  national  security  and  progress 
depended  wholly  on  the  support  of  China.  The  sur- 
vivors of  the  progressive  leaders  were  fugitives  in 
Japan  or  the  United  States,  dependent  on  charity 
for  their  support.  The  Tai  Won  Kun  was  permitted 
to  return  from  his  imprisonment  in  China,  but  all 
his  former  influence  and  prestige  were  gone — drowned 
in  the  tide  of  prosperity  which  had  carried  his  hated 
rivals,  the  Mins,  to  power,  and  he  lived  with  his  few 
followers  in  obscure  retirement.  Yuen,  Li  Hung 
Chang’s  deputy,  little  if  at  all  less  able  and  astute  than 
his  great  chief,  was  at  the  capital,  no  longer  as  com- 
missioner but  as  Resident,  a semi-gubernatorial  office, 
and  he  was  de  facto  the  King  of  Korea.  Nothing 
was  done  without  consulting  him,  nor  without  his 
sanction.  European  technical  advisers  were  engaged 
and  new  industries  started  ; political  and  official 
advisers  were  also  engaged  to  help  in  the  reform  of 
the  State  administration  ; Koreans  were  sent  abroad 
to  study  ; but  Yuen  was  ever  in  the  background, 
and  real  national  progress  was  impossible  among  a 
people  who  themselves  tenaciously  clung  to  all  their 
oldest  traditions  and  customs.  Foreign  trade  largely 


328 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


increased,  especially  in  imports.  A Customs  service, 
managed  on  the  model  of  and  conducted  by  officers 
of  the  great  China  service,  was  established,  and  the 
receipts  from  duties  increased  three  and  four  fold 
within  very  few  years.  Populous  settlements  were 
established  ,at  the  open  ports.  Here  again  Japan 
was  unfortunate.  The  Japanese  who  came  to  these 
ports  were  the  reverse  of  a credit  to  their  country  ; 
unscrupulous  adventurers,  bullies,  and  the  scum  of 
all  the  ruffiandom  of  Japan  predominated  among 
them,  and  their  conduct  and  demeanour  towards  the 
gentle,  submissive,  and  ignorant  natives,  who  were 
unresisting  victims  to  their  cupidity  and  cruelty,  were 
a poor  recommendation  of  the  new  civilisation  of 
which  they  boasted.  On  the  other  hand,  Chinese 
traders — law-observing,  peaceable,  and  scrupulously 
honest  in  all  their  transactions — were  living  cer- 
tificates of  the  morality  engendered  by  a faithful 
observance  of  the  old. 

One  subsequent  incident  to  the  emeute  of  1884 
should  be  mentioned.  In  1885  relations  were  so 
strained  between  Great  Britain  and  Russia  that 
war  between  them  seemed  to  be  imminent  ; 
and  in  order  both  to  provide  an  additional 
coaling-station  for  her  fleet  in  the  event  of  war, 
and  to  block  the  passage  of  Russian  cruisers 
southwards  on  possible  raids  on  the  British  Colonies, 
Great  Britain  occupied  the  Nan  Hau  Islands  (Port 
Hamilton)  without  the  consent  of  or  even  any  previous 
attempt  to  obtain  the  consent  of  either  Japan,  Korea, 
the  o\vner  of  the  islands,  or  China,  the  suzerain  of 
the  owner.  All  three  powers  mildly  protested,  the 
only  result  being  an  offer  from  H.M.  Government 
to  lease  the  islands  from  Korea  at  an  annual  rental 
of  five  thousand  pounds,  the  amount  of  the  rental 
being  fixed  by  the  lessees.  The  offer  was  refused,  as 
its  acceptance  would  have  placed  it  out  of  the  power 


KIM  OK  KirX. 


To  face  p.  338. 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  329 


of  Korea  to  refuse  a similar  offer  from  Russia  in 
regard  to  another  port.  The  British  flag  was  hoisted 
and  a garrison  established  on  the  islands.  The  occu- 
pation lasted  for  two  years,  notwithstanding  continued 
remonstrances  from  China,  and  then,  the  Russian 
crisis  having  passed  away,  it  ended,  China  guaran- 
teeing that  “ neither  the  group  of  Korean  Islands  in 
which  Port  Hamilton  is  situated  nor  any  part  of 
Korean  territory  should  be  occupied  by  another 
Power,”  while  Russia  at  the  same  time  gave  an  ex- 
plicit guarantee  to  China,  distinctly  declaring  that  “in 
the  future  Russia  would  not  take  Korean  territory.” 
Subsequent  history  afforded  interesting  comments  on 
both  guarantees. 

Among  the  leaders  of  the  conspiracy  in  1884  who 
escaped  from  Korea,  the  most  prominent  was  a young 
noble  named  Kim  Ok  Kiun.  He  was  a man  of 
marked  intelligence,  of  the  most  attractive  manners, 
and  when  a member  of  the  embassy  which  came 
to  Tokio  in  1882  he  made  a most  favourable  im- 
pression on  all  the  European  diplomatists  with  whom 
he  came  in  contact,  while  his  attainments  as  an 
accomplished  and  elegant  Chinese  scholar  no  less 
favourably  impressed  the  statesmen  and  scholars  of 
Japan.  He  was  in  turn  equally  impressed  with  the 
advantages  of  European  civilisation,  and  his  ability 
and  enthusiasm  made  him  a leader  among  the  Pro- 
gressionists after  his  return  to  his  own  country.  Un- 
fortunately, his  enthusiasm  made  him  also  a leader 
of  the  conspiracy  of  1884,  and  its  failure  made  him 
a refugee  in  Japan.  The  old  forms  of  justice  were 
still  in  force  in  Korea,  and  the  vengeance  of  his 
political  enemies,  which  could  not  reach  himself,  fell 
upon  his  family  and  relatives.  All — men,  women, 
children,  and  servants — were  put  to  death,  and  all 
his  property  confiscated.  This  did  not  tend  to  soften 
the  bitterness  which  he  felt  in  his  exile  to  those 


330 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


in  power  in  his  own  country,  and  while  enjoying  the 
hospitality  and  protection  of  Japan  he  was  constantly 
engaged  in  plotting  and  planning  in  conjunction  with 
Japanese  agitators,  of  whom  there  were  always  plenty 
in  Japan,  new  schemes  for  the  overthrow  of  his 
Government.  His  charm  of  manner,  his  accomplish- 
ments, to  which  in  his  exile  he  added  the  acquisition 
of  the  Japanese  language,  his  position  as  a political 
fugitive  bereft  of  country  and  family,  secured  for  him 
a toleration,  even  a welcome,  in  Japan,  which  was 
not  rendered  the  less  friendly  by  the  knowledge  of 
the  remorseless  cruelty  and  unscrupulous  methods 
that  he  had  already  used  and  was  ready  to  use  again 
to  gain  his  ends.  But  his  plotting  at  last  became 
too  evident,  and  after  many  warnings  he  was  de- 
ported from  Tokio  by  the  Japanese  Government  as 
a menace  to  the  good  relations  which  it  was  anxious 
to  maintain  with  Korea,  first  to  the  remote  and  iso- 
lated Bonin  Islands,  where  he  compared  himself  to 
Napoleon  at  St.  Helena,  and  when  it  was  found  that 
the  climate  of  the  islands  was  too  exhausting  for  him 
he  was  again  moved  to  Hakodate,  a move  which 
might  be  compared  to  one  from  Jamaica  to  New- 
foundland. After  some  years  in  both  places  he  was 
once  more  permitted  to  return  to  Tokio  on  the 
promise  of  good  behaviour  ; but  his  abilities,  com- 
bined with  a restless  disposition,  entirely  unfitted  him 
for  a life  of  political  inactivity,  and  he  was  no  sooner 
back  in  Tokio  than  he  was  plunged  again  in  plots 
and  intrigues  in  conjunction  with  fellow-exiles  and 
Japanese  sympathisers. 

Through  all  the  years  he  was  in  Japan,  whether 
in  the  capital  or  in  remote  outlying  districts,  he  was 
never  lost  sight  of  by  his  own  Government,  which 
never  lost  its  desire  for  revenge  for  his  share  in  the 
outbreak  of  1884,  nor  ceased  to  regard  him  as  a 
potential  danger  to  its  own  stability.  Several 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  331 


attempts  were  made  to  procure  his  formal  extradition, 
and  when  they  failed  his  Government  did  not  disdain 
to  send  its  emissaries  to  Japan  to  use  against  him 
the  orthodox  Korean  methods  of  assassination — by 
knife  or  poison.  One  of  them  at  last  succeeded  in 
decoying  him  to  Shanghai,  and  two  days  after  his 
arrival  he  was  shot  in  his  hotel  by  the  false  friend 
who  had  brought  him  there.  The  Chinese  authori- 
ties relieved  themselves  of  their  duty  of  vindicating 
this  outrage  on  their  soil  by  sending  both  the  assassin 
and  the  body  of  his  victim  in  a man-of-war  to  Korea. 
There  the  news  of  the  event  had  been  received  with 
joy,  which  was  indecently  exhibited,  by  the  Min  party, 
who  were  in  p>ower,  and  with  sullen  sorrow  and  in- 
dignation by  would-be  reformers.  The  assassin,  a 
man  of  high  degree,  else  he  could  not  have  imposed 
his  friendship  on  Kim  Ok  Kiun,  was  openly  honoured 
with  rank  and  office,  and  the  body  of  his  victim  was 
given  to  the  public  executioner  for  mutilation  and 
exposure  as  that  of  a criminal  who  had  paid  the  last 
penalty  of  the  law.  The  action  both  of  the  Chinese 
and  Korean  Governments  aroused  much  indignation  in 
Japan  ; and  though  the  Japanese  had  no  locus  standi 
which  afforded  them  legitimate  grounds  for  formal 
protests  to  either,  it  contributed  in  no  small  degree 
to  the  ill-will  which  was  shortly  afterwards  to  appear 
and  culminate  in  events  that  revolutionised  the  rela- 
tions of  all  three  powers. 

The  Tong  Haks  were  members  of  a Society  formed 
in  1864,  whose  object  was  the  maintenance  of  all 
the  old  national  customs  and  religion,  as  against 
Christianity  and  its  doctrines,  which  were  then  gaining 
some  ground.  With  the  disappearance  of  Christianity 
after  the  persecution  of  1866,  the  object  of  the  Society 
had  disappeared,  and  the  Society  itself  had  apparently 
ceased  to  exist.  Nothing  had  been  heard  of  the 
Tong  Ilaks  throughout  all  the  early  incidents  of 


332 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


foreign  intercourse.  Their  sentiments  and  aspira- 
tions and  those  of  Kim  Ok  Kiun  were  as  opposite 
as  the  poles,  and  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  any 
sympathy  with  the  latter’s  fate  could  have  entered 
their  minds.  But  at  the  same  time,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  surviving  members  who  had  been  living  in 
provincial  obscurity  seized  the  opportunity  afforded 
by  the  discredit  brought  on  the  Government  by  the 
incident,  both  abroad  and  among  a section  of  its 
own  people,  to  assert  themselves  once  more.  A re- 
bellion occurred  in  the  province  of  Cholla  which 
spread  both  northwards  and  eastwards,  and  developed 
so  rapidly  as  soon  to  threaten  the  very  existence  of 
the  Government.  The  rebels  professed  no  disloyalty 
to  the  King,  but  declared  in  a published  ultimatum 
that  they  meant  to  remove  from  his  side  “ the 
ministers,  governors,  and  magistrates  who  were  in- 
different to  the  welfare  of  their  country,  and  bent 
only  on  enriching  themselves.”  The  troops  sent 
against  them  were  repeatedly  defeated,  and  at  last 
the  Government,  thoroughly  alarmed,  appealed  to  its 
suzerain  for  help.  China  complied,  and  sent  a large 
force  to  Korea,  warning  Japan,  as  she  was  bound 
to  do  by  the  Treaty  of  Tientsin,  that  she  had  done 
so.  Japan,  in  her  turn,  quickly  sent  an  equally 
large  force,  and  the  first  step  was  taken  that  led  to 
the  China-Japan  War. 

The  subsequent  incidents  that  culminated  in  war 
may  be  summarised  with  the  utmost  brevity  in  the 
statements  that  Japan  proposed  to  China  that  both 
should  join  in  reforming  the  corruption  and  in- 
efficiency that  characterised  the  Korean  Government  ; 
that  China  refused,  and  Japan  then  undertook  the 
task  herself  ; that  both  powers  largely  reinforced 
their  troops  in  the  peninsula  ; that  an  encounter 
on  the  sea,  that  might  almost  be  called  accidental, 
was  the  first  open  signal  of  the  war.  Two  battles 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  333 


were  fought  on  Korean  soil.  The  Chinese  were 
driven  from  Asan,  a village  on  the  coast  about  fifty 
miles  from  Seoul,  where  they  had  established  them- 
selves in  an  entrenched  camp.  They  retreated  in 
good  order  to  Phyong  An,  their  old  battle-ground 
in  the  days  of  Hideyoshi,  where  they  united  with  a 
large  Chinese  force  that  had  marched  from  the 
northern  frontier.  Here  they  were  soon  again 
attacked  by  the  Japanese,  and  suffered  a crushing 
defeat.  After  that  the  war  was  carried  on  beyond 
Korea’s  borders,  and  in  every  stage,  both  on  sea 
and  land,  complete  victory  attended  the  Japanese 
arms.  China  was  beaten  to  her  knees  : her  capital 
was  threatened,  and  would  have  fallen  had  it  not 
been  for  the  peace  that  was  concluded  at  Shimonoseki 
on  April  i 7,  1 895. 

The  first  clause  of  the  treaty  of  peace  provided 
for  the  “ recognition  of  the  full  and  complete  inde- 
pendence of  Korea  by  China.”  China’s  suzerainty 
was  over.  All  her  right  to  interfere  in  the  affairs 
of  the  peninsula  for  which  she  had  paid  so  dearly, 
was  at  an  end,  and  Japan  was  left  free  to  use  all 
the  prestige  she  had  now  acquired  as  the  conqueror 
of  the  mighty  Empire  in  forcing  on  the  Korean 
Government  the  domestic  reforms  that  were  con- 
sidered essential  to  its  future  salvation.  She  gave 
the  greatest  proof  she  could  of  her  earnestness  by 
entrusting  the  duty  to  Count  Inouye,  whose  experi- 
ence, ability,  and  courage  as  a statesman  were  second 
only  to  those  of  Prince  Ito,  his  lifelong  friend  and 
fellow-worker,  if  indeed  second  even  to  his.  Un- 
fortunately, Count  Inouye  made  the  one  great  mis- 
take of  his  otherwise  unclouded  career.  He  judged 
the  receptive  capacities  of  the  Koreans  by  those  of 
his  own  countrymen,  and  proceeded  to  thrust  upon 
them  a series  of  national  and  domestic  reforms  that 
were  as  bewildering  in  their  novelty  as  they  were 


334 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


in  their  number,  and  extended  from  the  remodelling 
of  the  Court,  the  army,  and  the  local  government 
down  to  such  details  as  the  length  of  the  pipes  which 
were  the  inseparable  companions  of  every  Korean, 
man,  woman,  and  child,  and  the  method  of  dressing 
the  hair.  Insignificant  as  the  latter  may  appear,  it 
was  one  that  appealed  to  the  greatest  pride  of 
Korean  manhood.  In  Korea  boys  wear  their  hair 
in  a lon_g  plait  which  hangs  down  their  backs,  a 
style  that  gives  them  an  intensely  feminine  appear- 
ance, and  which  imposed  on  all  early  European 
visitors  to  Korea  a wrong  belief  as  to  their  sex. 
After  marriage — and  a Korean  continues  to  be  a 
boy  in  the  estimation  of  the  law  and  of  the  people 
till  he  is  married — the  plait  is  cut  off  and  the  hair 
gathered  in  a topknot  on  the  cro\vn,  and  the  dignity 
of  a hat  is  assumed.  Topknot  and  hat  are  the  out- 
ward symbols  of  full  manhood,  though  the  wearer 
may  be  still  a boy  of  very  tender  years.  Count 
Inouye  ordered  that  both  plaits  and  topknots  should 
be  abandoned  and  the  European  style  of  hair- 
dressing followed.  A similar  reform  had  been  un- 
resistingly accepted  in  his  o\vn  country^  but  it  pro- 
duced a perfect  furore  of  opposition  in  Korea.  Not 
only  subordinate  officials  but  even  Cabinet  ministers 
resigned  their  offices  rather  than  obey  it,  though  the 
King  set  them  a good  example  by  having  his  o\\n 
hair,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Cro^\n  Prince  and  of  all  the 
palace  attendants,  cut  in  the  new  style.  In  the  capital 
people  were  forced  to  obey,  but  it  was  only  in  its  well- 
policed  streets  that  those  who  did  so  dared  to  show 
themselves.  And  the  capital  was  nearly  starved. 
Farmers,  bringing  their  produce  to  its  markets,  could 
not  enter  the  gates  with  their  topknots.  Police  were 
stationed  at  all  the  main  gates  to  tell  them  of  the 
new  order  and  to  see  that  it  was  obeyed.  They  could 
not  return  to  their  own  villages  without  the  top- 


VllCW  OF  MODEKN  SKOl'I, — THE  KOMAX  CATHOLIC  CATHEDKAL. 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905 


335 


knots.  If  they  did,  they  were  mobbed  and  beaten 
by  their  indignant  fellow-villagers.  So  they  left  the 
capital  to  itself,  and  its  markets  were  empty.  The 
only  class  who  really  profited  by  the  order  were  the 
Japanese  barbers  in  Seoul,  who  reaped  a golden 
harvest,  none  of  their  Korean  confreres  having  as  yet 
acquired  the  art  of  European  hair-dressing. 

While  Count  Inouye  remained  in  Korea  all  went 
well,  but  when  he  left  and  his  place  was  taken  by 
an  official  with  none  of  his  ability  or  strength  of 
character,  who  was  as  fitted  for  dealing  with  the 
delicate  task  that  confronted  him  as  a rustic  clown 
is  to  be  entrusted  with  the  management  of  a com- 
plicated machine,  all  that  he  had  effected  was 
speedily  undone.  Viscount  Miura,  the  new  Resident, 
was  an  old  soldier  who  had  won  some  distinc- 
tion in  active  service,  but  a tyrant,  competent 
perhaps  to  discharge  the  duties  of  a military  dictator 
in  a conquered  country  under  martial  law,  where 
the  soldiers  of  the  conqueror  were  granted  unlimited 
licence,  but  no  other.  His  appointment  was  one 
of  the  worst  of  the  many  blunders  which  Japan  com- 
mitted in  Korea.  While  such  was  the  character  of 
the  personal  representative  of  the  Emperor,  that  of 
the  ordinary  Japanese  citizens  who  now  flocked  to 
Korea  in  greatly  increasing  numbers,  to  exploit  the 
fields  of  plunder  that  success  in  war  had  opened 
to  them,  was  even  worse.  As  in  1884,  adventurers, 
ruffians,  and  bullies  who  could  find  no  scope  for  their 
talents  in  their  own  country  poured  into  Korea,  and 
speedily  made  themselves  a terror  to  the  unhappy, 
downtrodden,  and  submissive  people.  Those  who 
have  only  known  the  polished,  scholarly,  quick-witted, 
and  accomplished  gentlemen,  the  highest  models  of 
smiling  and  dignified  courtesy,  that  are  met  in  London 
or  in  the  Court  or  salons  of  Tokio,  or  the  suave 
tradesmen  of  the  White  City  in  1910,  can  form  but 


336 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


little  idea  of  the  Japanese  hooligan,  whether  of  the 
lower  or  the  middle  classes — there  are  abundance 
of  both — when  he  can  give  full  play  to  his  cruelty  and 
cupidity.  Korea  was  now  overrun  by  such,  and  they 
brought  terror  with  them  wherever  they  came. 
Everywhere,  both  in  towns  and  in  the  country,  they 
found  easy  victims  in  a timid  and  defenceless  people. 
The  Korean  peasants,  it  may  be  said,  suffered  from 
them  little  worse  than  they  had  been  accustomed  for 
centuries  to  endure  from  their  own  nobles  and 
officials.  But  the  methods  of  the  two  were  different. 
Under  his  own  authorities  the  sanctity  of  the 
peasant’s  home  was  always  inviolate  : his  person  was 
safe  so  long  as  no  criminal  accusation  could  be  formu- 
lated against  him  ; all  his  scruples  were  respected. 
Neither  home,  person,  nor  sentiment  was  ever  safe 
when  a Japanese  rowdy  came  upon  the  scene.  The 
most  high-spirited  English  lad  will  patiently  sub- 
mit to  a caning  from  his  schoolmaster,  but  the 
meekest  would  fight  tooth  and  nail  against  a similar 
infliction  at  the  hands  of  a stranger,  even  if  he  had 
been  caught  red-handed  in  deeds  that  might  merit 
the  punishment.  The  Korean  is  no  more  than  a 
schoolboy.  What  he  would  bear  uncomplainingly 
from  his  own  authorities  was  a source  of  bitter 
humiliation  as  well  as  suffering  when  it  came  from 
the  hands  of  his  traditional  enemies.  All  through 
the  country  there  were  Japanese  officials  whose  duty 
it  was  to  restrain  and  punish  the  licence  of  their  owm 
countrymen.  But  the  first  conception  of  his  duty 
that  was  present  to  the  minds  of  the  subordinate 
Japanese  local  officials  was  that  they  should  pro- 
tect and  shield  their  ovmi  countrymen,  let  the  right 
lie  where  it  may,  and  under  their  chief  in  Korea  they 
gave  full  play  to  their  partiality.  An  outraged 
Korean  had  as  much  chance  of  redress  through  the 
offices  of  a Japanese  official  in  a district  remote 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  337 


enough  to  be  safe  from  foreign  criticism  as  a negro 
slave  from  a magisterial  bench  of  Southern  planters 
or  an  English  poacher  in  the  eighteenth  century  from 
one  of  game-preserving  squires. 

All  foreign  witnesses,  press  correspondents, 
travellers,  and  missionaries — one  of  the  most  out- 
spoken of  the  latter  was  Bishop  Corfe,  the  head  of 
the  Anglican  Mission — are  unanimous  in  their  con- 
demnation of  the  conduct  of  the  lower  classes  of  the 
Japanese  in  Korea  at  this  period.  But  there  is  a 
higher  authority  in  regard  to  it  than  any  European. 
Even  Count  Inouye,  great  and  powerful  as  he  was, 
would  have  hesitated  to  condemn  his  own  countrymen 
in  a foreign  land  had  he  not  the  strongest  reasons 
for  it,  and  his  description  of  it  as  published  in  the 
Nichi  Nichi  Shimbun,  which,  at  the  time,  worthily 
occupied  in  Tokio  the  position  that  the  Times  holds 
in  London,  was  as  follows  : 

" All  the  Japanese  are  overbearing  and  rude  in  their  dealings  with 
the  Koreans.  The  readiness  of  the  Chinese  to  bow  their  heads  may 
be  a natural  instinct,  but  this  trait  in  their  character  is  their  strength 
as  merchants.  The  Japanese  are  not  only  overbearing  but  violent 
in  their  attitude  towards  the  Koreans.  When  there  is  the  slightest 
misunderstanding,  they  do  not  hesitate  to  employ  their  fists.  Indeed, 
it  is  not  uncommon  for  them  to  pitch  Koreans  into  the  river,  or  to 
cut  them  down  with  swords.  If  merchants  commit  these  acts  of 
violence,  the  conduct  of  those  who  are  not  merchants  may  well  be 
imagined.  They  say  : ‘ We  have  made  you  an  independent  nation, 
we  have  saved  you  from  the  Tonghaks,  whoever  dares  to  reject  our 
advice  or  oppose  our  actions  is  an  ungrateful  traitor.’  Even  military 
coolies  use  language  like  that  towards  the  Koreans.  Under  such 
circumstances,  it  would  be  a wonder  if  the  Koreans  developed  much 
friendship  with  the  Japanese.  It  is  natural  that  they  should  enter- 
tain more  amicable  feelings  toward  other  nations  than  toward  the 
Japanese.  For  this  state  of  things  the  Japanese  themselves  are 
responsible.  Now  that  the  Chinese  are  returning  to  Korea,  unless 
the  Japanese  correct  themselves  and  behave  with  more  moderation, 
they  will  entirely  forfeit  the  respect  and  love  of  the  Koreans. 

“ Another  circumstance  that  I regret  very  much  for  the  sake  of  the 

22 


338 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


Japanese  residents  is,  that  some  of  them  have  been  unscrupulous 
enough  to  cheat  the  Korean  Government  and  people  by  supplying 
them  with  spurious  articles.  The  Koreans,  taught  by  such  experience, 
naturally  hesitate  to  buy  from  the  Japanese.  An  examination  of 
recent  purchases  made  by  the  Korean  Government  from  Japanese 
merchants  would  cause  any  conscientious  man  to  cry  out.  I do  not 
say  that  the  Japanese  alone  have  been  untrustworthy.  But  I hope 
that,  in  future,  they  will  endeavour  to  get  credit  for  honesty  instead 
of  aiming  at  immediate  and  speculative  gains.” 


All  the  traditional  hatred  of  the  Koreans  tow'ards 
the  Japanese  was  intensified  by  their  experience  now 
that  the  protecting  hand  of  China  was  gone,  and 
the  hatred  of  the  people  was  exceeded  by  that  of 
the  Court.  One  of  the  political  refugees  of  1884, 
Pak  Yong  Hyo,  had  returned  to  Korea  under  the 
wings  of  Count  Inouye.  He  was  only  less  odious 
to  the  Court  than  was  Kim  Ok  Kiun,  and  yet  Inouye’s 
influence  was  such  that  he  obtained  for  him  a high 
office  in  the  Ministry.  Inouye  had  insisted  that  the 
Queen  should  interfere  no  more  in  the  Government. 
But  her  strength  of  character  and  ability  were  such 
that  even  he  found  it  expedient  to  give  way  to  her 
to  some  extent,  and  when  he  was  gone  her  influence 
was  as  great  as  ever.  All  the  great  offices  were 
once  more  filled  by  her  relatives  and  partisans,  and 
Pak  Yong  Hyo  was  again  obliged  to  find  personal 
safety  in  flight. 

Through  all  these  events  the  Tai  Won  Kun  was 
living  in  retirement  near  the  capital,  but  always  keep- 
ing his  watchful  eye  on  the  current  of  affairs  and 
ready  when  the  opportunity  came  to  seek  vengeance 
on  his  hated  antagonists — both  the  Queen  and  her 
relatives.  He  was  embittered  almost  to  madness 
when  his  favourite  grandson  was  convicted  of  a plot 
against  the  Government  and,  notwithstanding  all  his 
privileges  of  royal  blood,  was  sentenced  to  a long 
term  of  imprisonment.  All  his  tendencies  were 


JNIODERN  KOREA-1884-1905  339 


Chinese,  all  his  desires  were  to  see  foreigners  ex- 
pelled and  the  old  policy  of  isolation  re-established, 
and  none  of  his  countrymen  hated  the  Japanese  more 
than  he.  But  all  his  aspirations,  all  his  hatred  to 
foreigners  were  submerged  in  the  over-mastering 
passion  with  which  he  hated  the  Queen,  who  had  now 
continuously  thwarted  him  for  more  than  twenty 
years,  and  to  whom  all  his  official  impotency  was 
due.  To  gratify  that  hatred,  he  was  willing  to  resort 
once  more  to  his  old  methods  of  violence  and  assassi- 
nation, and  to  ensure  their  success  by  joining  his 
fortunes  with  those  of  the  Japanese.  In  Miura  he 
found  a ready  tool.  Between  the  two  a plot  was 
formed  which  in  its  atrocious,  cowardly  cruelty  finds 
few  parallels  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

On  the  morning  of  October  8,  1895,  before  dawn, 
a sudden  attack  was  made  on  the  palace  by  the  Tai 
Won  Kun,  at  the  head  of  a crowd,  which  included 
some  of  his  own  family  adherents,  but  was  mainly 
composed  of  Japanese,  not  only  of  some  of  the  worst 
rowdies,  but  of  police  officers,  officials,  and  even 
some  members  of  the  staff  of  Miura’s  Legation. 
The  palace  guard  was  taken  entirely  by  surprise,  and 
quickly  overpowered,  and  then  the  savage  crowd 
spread  itself  throughout  the  whole  of  the  vast  build- 
ings, seeking  the  Queen.  Every  one  who  attempted 
to  oppose  them  was  ruthlessly  cut  down  : the  ladies 
of  the  palace  were  beaten  and  dragged  over  the 
floors  by  their  hair  to  make  them  disclose  the  hiding- 
place  of  their  royal  mistress  ; and  when  their  courage 
and  loyalty  were  proof  against  these  outrages,  they 
were  brutally  murdered  ; “ slashed  to  death  and  their 
corpses  burnt  ” was  the  description  given  in  the 
Japanese  papers  of  their  fate  before  it  was  known 
that  the  murderers  included  prominent  Japanese.  At 
last  the  Queen  was  found,  and  her  fate  was  that  which 
had  already  befallen  her  faithful  ladies,  and  Japanese 


340 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


were  included  among  those  who  actually  dealt  her 
her  death  wounds.  When  dead,  her  body  was  taken 
into  the  park,  where  kerosene  oil  was  poured  on 
it  and  it  was  then  cremated.  All  this  time  the 
Japanese  troops,  with  their  officers  at  their  head,  were 
under  arms  all  round  the  royal  apartments  of  the 
palace,  preventing  either  ingress  or  egress. 

Once  more  the  Tai  Won  Kun  was  in  power,  this 
time  with  a new  Ministry  of  Progressionists.  Hatred 
for  the  Queen  was  not  sated  by  her  death.  It  was 
believed  for  a while  in  the  city  that  she  had  escaped 
as  she  had  done  in  1882,  and  a decree  was  issued 
in  the  name  of  the  unhappy  King,  in  which  it  was 
proclaimed  that  she  was  deposed  and  degraded,  and 
in  which  her  name  and  fame  were  ruthlessly 
vilified  ; 

“Our  reign  has  already  lasted  two-and-thirty  years,  and  yet  it 
grieves  Us  to  think  that  the  country  has  not  been  sufihciently  bene- 
fited under  Our  sway.  Our  Queen,  of  the  Min  family,  collecting 
around  Our  throne  a large  number  of  her  relations  and  partisans,  has 
obscured  Our  intelligence,  robbed  the  people,  confused  Our  orders, 
bartered  official  rank,  and  practised  all  sorts  of  extortion  in  the 
provincial  localities.  Bands  of  lawless  robbers  roamed  in  all  parts 
of  the  country,  and  the  dynasty  was  placed  in  a perilous  situation. 
That  we  have  not  punished  her,  though  knowing  her  wickedness, 
may  perhaps  be  ascribed  to  Our  lack  of  wisdom,  but  it  is  principally 
owing  to  the  fact  that  she  surrounded  Us  with  her  partisans.  In 
order  to  impose  restraints  upon  the  evil,  We  made  a vow  to  the 
spirits  of  our  ancestors  in  December  last,  to  the  effect  that  the  Queen 
and  all  her  blood  relations  should  henceforth  be  prohibited  from 
meddling  with  State  affairs.  It  was  Our  hope  that  the  Queen  would 
repent  of  her  errors.  But  instead  of  repenting,  she  continued  to 
favour  her  followers  and  to  keep  at  a distance  those  of  Our  own 
family.  She  also  prevented  the  Ministers  of  State  from  directly 
approaching  the  throne.  She  further  conspired  to  cause  a disturbance 
by  falsely  making  it  known  that  it  was  Our  wish  to  disband  Our 
troops,  and  when  the  disturbance  arose,  she  left  our  side,  and 
following  the  method  pursued  by  her  in  1882,  she  hid  herself  beyond 
the  reach  of  Our  search.  Such  conduct  is  not  onlj’  inconsistent  with 


THK  OLD  I'AI.ACI- — THK  ROYAL  DWEI.I.IXCL 

(f  rorii  SIcrtoHraM'  Cf/yrig-:,l,  fmlerwoo.l  & I'ltileni  ooil,  l.onihn.) 


To  face  p.  340, 


f 


t 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  341 


her  rank  as  Queen,  but  is  the  acme  of  crime  and  heinousness.  We 
therefore,  in  pursuance  of  Our  family  precedents,  are  compelled  to 
depose  Our  Queen  and  to  degrade  her  to  the  level  of  the  common 
people.’’ 

The  wretched  truth  soon  became  known  ; and  the 
Japanese,  who  were  in  Korea  as  the  apostles  of 
modem  civilisation,  whose  mission  it  was  to  purify 
a Government  that  was  seething  in  corruption,  to 
expose  the  blessings  of  good  government  and  security 
of  life  and  property  to  a people  who  knew  none  of 
them,  now  appeared  as  employing  the  worst  methods 
of  savage  barbarism,  and  their  chief  representative 
as  the  ally  and  partner  of  a bloodthirsty  assassin. 
The  Japanese  Government  were  wholly  guiltless  in 
the  matter.  The  moment  the  truth  was  known  to 
it  (strange  to  say  that  the  truth  was  first  made  known 
at  Tokio  by  telegrams  from  the  Japanese  ministers 
at  Washington  and  St.  Petersburg),  Miura,  the  whole 
staff  of  his  Legation,  numbering  more  than  forty 
persons,  and  all  his  satellites,  both  military  and  civil, 
were  recalled,  and  a universal  demand  for  their 
punishment  was  made  in  the  press.  It  was  even 
suggested  that  one  and  all  should  atone  for  the  dis- 
grace which  they  had  brought  upon  their  country 
by  the  time-honoured  expedient  of  harakiri. 

For  a few  months  the  King  remained  in  his 
palace,  a prisoner  in  the  hands  of  his  father — the  Tai 
Won  Kun — and  the  new  Ministry.  He  was  broken 
and  cowed  by  what  had  happened,  in  such  terror 
of  his  life  that  the  only  food  which  either  he  or  the 
Crown  Prince  would  touch  was  what  was  brought 
to  him  in  locked  boxes  from  the  house  of  an  American 
medical  missionary.  At  last  he  escaped,  and  both 
King  and  Prince,  secretly  carried  out  of  the  palace; 
at  night  in  the  common  palanquins  that  were  used 
by  the  female  serv'ants,  fled  to  the  Russian  Lega- 
tion. There  he  was  not  only  free  but,  as  he  carried 


342 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


the  Government  with  him  wherever  he  went,  he  was 
able  by  a stroke  of  his  pen  to  deprive  his  erstwhile 
masters  of  all  legal  authority,  and  to  appoint  his  own 
ministers  in  their  places.  All  that  Japan  had  gained 
by  the  China  War  was  now  hopelessly  lost,  and  every 
reform  which  she  had  accomplished  was  undone.  The 
affairs  of  the  kingdom  were  directed  by  the  King 
from  his  sanctuary  in  the  Russian  Legation  and  he, 
in  the  revulsion  of  his  freedom  after  his  imprison- 
ment, ran  riot  in  an  orgy  of  reactionary  decrees. 
Corruption  was  again  rife  in  every  branch  of  the 
administration,  all  domestic  affairs  were  in  utter 
confusion,  rebellion  broke  out  in  several  provincial 
districts,  and  the  outlook  for  the  future  became  more 
hopeless  than  it  had  been  even  when  the  influence 
of  China  was  all-powerful.  Russia  had  now  taken 
the  place  that  China  formerly  occupied,  and  so  far 
followed  the  old  policy  of  China  in  leaving  the  King 
absolute  freedom  to  deal  with  the  internal  affairs  of 
his  kingdom  as  he  pleased,  that  it  seemed  as  if  she 
was  deliberately  giving  Korea  enough  rope  to  hang 
herself,  that  she  was  paving  the  way  for  Korea  to 
fall  into  her  own  arms  through  the  weakness  that 
was  being  engendered  by  corruption  and  inefficiency. 

The  King  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  the  Russian 
Legation  for  two  years,  and  then  he  left  it  to  take 
up  his  residence  in  a newly  erected  palace,  and 
simultaneously  he  assumed  the  title  of  Emperor.  The 
distinction  drawn  in  Oriental  minds  between  the  titles 
which  are  translated  into  English  as  Emperor  and 
King  has  already  been  explained.  The  latter  always 
involves  the  idea  of  subjection  to  a suzerain,  and 
throughout  the  long  years  of  Korea’s  history  she  had 
always  acknowledged  herself  as  the  vassal  kingdom 
of  China.  Her  vassalage  nominally  ended  in  1876, 
when  her  first  treaty  was  concluded  with  Japan,  but 
it  lasted,  in  fact,  till  the  termination  of  the  China- 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  343 


Japan  War.  Count  Inouye,  desirous  to  emphasise 
in  the  minds  of  the  Korean  people  the  fact  that  they 
had  entirely  thrown  off  the  shackles  of  Chinese  in- 
fluence, during  his  stay  at  the  Korean  capital  urged 
that  the  title  should  then  be  changed,  but  old  associa- 
tions were  still  strong,  and  the  King  had  not  the 
courage  to  take  what  was  in  his  eyes  a drastically 
revolutionary  step.  In  1897,  when  he  left  the 
Russian  Legation  for  his  own  newly-built  palace,  he 
had  become  inured  to  his  freedom  from  his  suzerain, 
and  the  step  which  appeared  so  formidable  two  years 
previously  had  lost  its  terrors  for  him.  It  was  not 
one  taken,  as  most  Europeans  believed  at  the  time, 
merely  for  the  gratification  of  the  personal  vanity 
of  a weak  and  capricious  sovereign,  but,  at  the  advice 
of  his  own  ministers,  as  a serious  political  measure 
to  emphasise,  not  only  to  his  subjects  but  to  his 
Chinese  and  Japanese  neighbours,  the  complete  inde- 
pendence which  Korea  was  now  supposed  to  enjoy 
in  all  her  affairs  both  foreign  and  domestic.  The 
condition  of  the  country,  the  disorganisation  of  the 
corrupt  and  incompetent  Government,  the  position 
of  the  King  himself,  fresh  from  his  retreat  in  a 
foreign  Legation  and  still  leaning  on  foreign  support, 
rendered  the  address  in  which  his  ministers  urged 
him  to  the  step  pathetic  in  the  light  in  which  it 
endeavoured  to  describe  both  King  and  country  : 

Your  Majesty’s  enlightened  thoughts,  chivalrous  disposition,  and 
grandeur  of  wisdom  surpass  the  hundred  monarchs  of  the  World. 
Your  natural  character  equals  the  workings  of  heaven  above  and 
earth  beneath,  your  greatness  and  goodness  have  reached  Holy 
Light.  Since  your  Coronation  your  goodness  and  beneficent  influence 
have  been  felt  everywhere  for  three  decades  and  your  ruling  has 
been  in  accord  with  the  spirit  of  the  classics.  Of  late  years  the 
country  experienced  troubles  and  dangers  but  through  Your 
Majesty’s  goodness  the  foundation  of  the  country  became  again 
secure  and  the  multitudinous  confusions  gave  way  to  orderliness  and 


344 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


righteousness.  The  future  of  the  d)’nasty  has  been  transferred  to  a 
solid  rock  and  prosperity  has  replaced  anxiety  and  worry.  The 
establishment  of  independence  and  maintenance  of  freedom  are 
solely  due  to  the  merciful  help  of  Heaven  and  the  continuation  of 
your  glorious  career.” 

The  King  yielded  to  the  “ six  armies  and  the 
ten  thousand  citizens  who  were  clamouring  at  the 
palace  gates,”  and  in  October,  1907,  was  once  more 
crowned  with  great  ceremony,  this  time  as  Emperor. 
He  was  speedily  congratulated  by  the  Czar  on  his 
new  dignity,  and  Russian  influence  continued  to  be 
the  directing  factor  in  all  his  affairs. 

With  the  assumption  of  an  Imperial  crown  the 
King  changed  the  name  of  what  had  been  his  kingdom 
to  that  of  the  Empire  of  Tai-han,  great  Han.  The 
name  adopted  by  the  first  king  of  the  Wang  dynasty 
iri  93  5,  when  the  peninsula  was  unified  under  one 
crown,  as  the  official  designation  of  his  kingdom  was 
Korai,  the  name  of  the  most  northern  of  the  three 
old  kingdoms  which  originally  shared  the  peninsula 
between  them,  and  also  of  the  far  distant  district 
in  Manchuria  where  the  remote  ancestor  of  the  kings 
of  old  Korai  was  born,  and  it  is  from  this  that  the 
name  by  which  Europeans  have  always  known  the 
peninsula,  Korea,  is  derived.  .When  Ni  Taijo  formed 
the  second  royal  dynasty  in  1392,  he  reverted  to 
the  still  older  title  of  Chosen,  the  designation  of  the 
land  colonised  by  Ki  Tse  eleven  hundred  years  before 
Christ,  and  Korea  was  always  officially  known  to 
both  Japanese  and  Chinese  as  Chosen  down  to  our 
own  time.  A popular  designation  of  it,  almost  as  old 
in  its  remote  origin  as  either  Korai  or  Chosen,  both 
among  Chinese  and  Japanese  as  well  as  among  its 
own  people,  was  “ the  Eight  Circuits  of  Keirin.” 
The  ” Eight  Circuits  ” are,  of  course,  the  eight  pro- 
vinces into  which  the  unified  kingdom  was  divided 
by  King  Wang,  and  which  continue  to  the  present 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  S45 


day.  Keirin  (pleasantly  sounding  as  it  is  in  Japanese, 
its  literal  translation  is  the  rather  prosaic  and  un- 
meaning one  of  “ cock-forest  ”)  was  originally  a 
name  of  Silla,  which  was  subsequently  extended  to 
Korai.  Its  origin  is  found  in  the  following  story  : 
Talha,  the  fifth  King  of  the  Sillan  dynasty  (58- 
81  A.D.),  once,  in  the  ninth  year  of  his  reign,  heard 
a cock  repeatedly  crowing  through  a night  in  early 
spring  in  the  forest  that  lay  to  the  west  of  his 
castle,  and,  wondering  what  it  would  portend,  he 
sent  an  officer  in  the  morning  to  inquire  into  it. 
The  officer  found  a white  cock  of  glorious  plumage 
still  crowing,  and  hanging  from  a branch  of  a tree 
beneath  which  the  cock  sat  was  a golden  casket. 
He  reported  what  he  had  seen,  and  then  the  King 
had  the  casket  brought  to  him  and  opened,  and  in- 
side was  found  an  infant  boy  of  wondrous  beauty. 
The  King  was  childless.  He  was  delighted  with 
what  he  had  found,  saying  that  Providence  had 
sent  him  an  heir.  Thenceforward  the  forest  was 
called  “ Keirin,”  and  the  name  was  subsequently 
extended  to  the  whole  of  Silla,  and  still  later  to 
the  peninsula,  while  a white  cock  became  an  heraldic 
emblem  of  Korea  just  as  the  chrysanthemum  is  one 
of  Japan.  Before  the  three  kingdoms  existed,  coeval 
with  the  earliest  Korai  and  Chosen,  were  the  three 
Han  or  districts  into  which,  as  already  told  in  a 
previous  chapter,  the  south  of  the  peninsula  was 
divided  in  the  earliest  days.  In  place  of  the  three 
Han,  all  Korea  had  become  one  great  Han,  and  it 
was  of  this  Tai  Han  that  the  erstwhile  King  was  ac- 
claimed as  Emperor  in  1897.  The  kingdom  of  Korai 
existed  for  four  centuries,  that  of  Chosen  for  over 
five,  but  the  new  empire  was  destined  for  a brief  and 
troublous  life  of  only  thirteen  years.' 

Twice  the  Japanese  attempted  to  secure  their  own 
* Vide  note  to  list  of  illustrations. 


346 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


position  in  Korea  vis-d-vis  Russia,  first  by  the  con- 
vention negotiated  at  St.  Petersburg  in  1896,  and 
second  by  that  negotiated  at  Tokio  in  1898,  knoAvn 
from  the  names  of  their  signatories,  the  first  as  the 
Yamagata-Lobanoff,  and  the  second  as  the  Nishi- 
Rosen,  convention.  All  conventions  were  in  vain. 
Russia  pursued  her  own  course  regardless  of  all  treaty 
obligations,  obtained  and  held  control  of  the  military 
and  financial  systems  of  Korea,  and,  while  she  had 
agreed  to  respect  Korea’s  territorial  integrity  and 
not  to  obstruct  the  development  of  commercial  and 
industrial  relations  with  Japan,  she  was  rapidly 
securing  for  herself  concessions  which  placed  the 
most  valuable  resources  of  Korea  at  her  disposal. 
Her  minister  at  Seoul  was  always  in  the  confidence 
of  the  King,  and,  backed  both  by  the  gratitude  which 
the  King  owed  for  the  protection  given  to  him  in 
his  time  of  peril  and  by  the  prestige  of  Russia,  was 
practically  able  to  obtain  all  that  he  asked.  It 
seemed  only  a question  of  time  when  Korea  should 
become  in  name  as  she  already  appeared  to  be  in 
fact,  a Russian  province,  when  a series  of  incidents 
occurred  that  were  as  insignificant  in  their  origin 
as  they  were  momentous  in  their  results. 

Among  the  many  concessions  granted  by  the 
Korean  King  when  a refugee  in  the  Russian 
Legation,  in  1896,  was  one  to  a Russian  subject 
for  cutting  timber  in  the  valley  of  the  River  Yalu, 
on  the  north-western  frontier.  This  concession  was 
a v^aluable  one,  in  view  of  the  building  of  the  trans- 
Siberian  Railway,  the  immense  number  of  sleepers 
that  would  be  required,  and  the  rich  forests  of  the 
Yalu  valley,  which  could  furnish  the  material,  while 
the  river  itself  afforded  easy  and  cheap  facilities  for 
transport  from  the  forests  to  the  borders  of  Man- 
churia. Members  of  the  Imperial  family  of  Russia 
and  high  officials  in  Eastern  Siberia  took  large 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  347 


pecuniary  interests  in  it,  so  that  the  concessionaire 
became  assured  of  strong  political  and  official  support 
whenever  the  time  came  at  which  it  suited  him  to 
make  use  of  it.  It  was  never  made  public,  and 
nothing  was  heard  of  it  till  the  summer  of  1903, 
when  Chinese  labourers  from  Manchuria  began  to  fell 
timber  on  an  extensive  scale  under  Russian  direction  ; 
and  the  labourers  were  soon  followed  by  soldiers,  to 
protect  them  from  the  mounted  Chinese  bandits  that 
infested  Manchuria  immediately  to  the  north  of  the 
Yalu.  The  sale  of  land  to  foreigners  outside  the 
limits  of  the  recognised  settlements  was  forbidden 
by  Korean  law,  but  a large  tract  was  purchased  by 
the  Russian  timber  concessionaires  at  Yong  Ampho, 
a Korean  port  on  the  Yalu,  about  fifteen  miles  from 
its  mouth,  from  the  Korean  owners.  Substantial 
dwellings,  sawmills,  and  other  buildings  were  erected 
on  it,  the  river  frontage  was  embanked,  and  every 
intention  was  manifested  of  founding  a large  settle- 
ment. A little  farther  up  the  river,  on  the  Man- 
churian side,  is  the  Chinese  port  of  Antung.  Yong 
Ampho  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  ten  best  harbours 
in  Korea.  If  the  possession  of  Yong  Ampho  was 
combined  with  that  of  Antung,  which,  like  the  rest 
of  Manchuria,  was  at  thfe  time  in  Russian  occupa- 
tion, the  River  Yalu  could  be  closed  to  all  approach 
from  the  sea,  and  the  Russians,  with  open  contempt 
for  both  Japanese  and  Korean  protests,  gave  every 
indication  of  their  intentions.  A fort  was  erected 
on  the  highest  part  of  the  acquired  land  in  Korea, 
guns  were  mounted,  and  a garrison  established  in 
it.  A second  fort  was  commenced  on  the  Man- 
churian side,  on  a cliff  commanding  the  river,  a 
few  miles  farther  up.  The  Korean  Government  was 
awakened  by  these  proceedings  to  the  danger  which 
threatened  their  northern  frontier  and  their  north- 
western province.  .Yn  old  prophecy  foretold  that 


348 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


when  the  Tartar  was  in  the  north  and  a shrimp  in 
the  south  and  white  pines  grew  in  the  valley  of 
the  Yalu  the  end  of  Korean  independence  would  be 
near.  The  configuration  of  Japan  is  supposed  to 
resemble  a shrimp,  and  Japanese  settlements  were 
now  all  over  the  south — at  Fusan,  Masampo,  and 
Seoul.  The  Russian  Tartar  was  establishing  himself 
in  the  north  and  lining  the  valleys  of  the  Yalu  with 
white  telegraph  posts  made  of  pine,  and  all  com- 
bined to  signify  the  realisation  of  the  prophecy. 
Korea  was  still  under  the  thumb  of  Russia,  the  King 
(now  the  Emperor),  both  in  gratitude  and  fear,  sub- 
servient in  all  things  to  the  masterful  Russian 
minister  at  Seoul  ; but  both  King  and  Government, 
pressed  by  the  Japanese  minister,  who  was  supported 
by  the  diplomatic  representatives  of  the  other  powers 
at  Seoul,  especially  by  those  of  England  and  the 
United  States,  plucked  up  courage  to  send  orders 
to  the  local  Governor  of  Wiju,  the  most  important 
frontier  town  of  Korea  and  the  capital  of  the  pre- 
fecture, to  stop  the  illegal  sale  of  real  estate.  The 
Governor  reported  that  the  Russian  methods  rendered 
him  powerless,  that  the  Russians  simply  took 
possession  of  the  land  in  the  first  instance,  with  or 
without  the  consent  of  the  native  o\vners,  and  went 
through  the  form  of  buying  it  afterwards.  The 
Russian  minister  in  Seoul,  in  answer  to  the  feeble 
protests  of  the  Government,  declared  that  the 
“ valley  of  the  Yalu  ” included  not  only  the  line 
of  the  river  itself  throughout  its  entire  length,  but 
all  its  tributaries  and  all  the  adjoining  districts,  and 
that  a concession  to  cut  timber  implied  the  privilege 
of  exercising  every  operation  incidental  to  it,  in  no 
matter  how  remote  a degree.  He  claimed,  there- 
fore, the  right  to  construct  railways  or  roads,  erect 
telegraphs,  acquire  land  for  building  purposes,  and 
to  take  whatever  military  measures  appeared  to  be 


MODERN  KOREA— 1884-1905  349 


prudent  for  the  protection  of  the  Russian  settlers 
engaged  in  all  or  any  of  these  works.  He  claimed, 
in  fact,  the  fullest  military  control  and  very  exten- 
sive proprietorial  rights  over  the  entire  north-west 
frontier. 

The  Japanese  Government  was  profoundly  moved 
by  the  Russian  proceedings  and  claim,  recognising 
that  if  both  were  permitted  to  pass  without  resistance 
they  would  form  stepping-stones  for  further  extension 
of  the  Russian  sphere  of  influence  that  might  end  in 
the  absorption  of  the  whole  peninsula.  She  had 
before  her  many  incidents  of  Russian  methods  and 
of  Russia’s  cynical  disregard  of  the  most  solemn 
treaty  obligations  when  it  suited  her  to  break  them. 
Russia  had  already  in  her  present  action  violated 
in  their  most  essential  items  both  the  conventions 
she  had  made  with  Japan  for  the  regulation  of  their 
mutual  interests  in  Korea.  She  had  stationed  troops 
in  Korean  dominions,  though  they  were  not  necessary 
for  the  protection  of  existing  settlements  ; and  she 
had  acquired  land  in  places  not  open  to  the  residence 
of  foreigners  in  defiance  of  the  provisions  of  Korean 
law,  in  both  respects  outraging  the  sovereignty  of 
Korea  as  an  independent  kingdom,  which  she  had 
solemnly  bound  herself  to  recognise.  Japan  tried  in 
vain  to  rouse  the  Korean  Government  to  take  steps 
which  would  throw  some  moral  obstacles  in  the  way 
of  Russia’s  encroachment,  but  neither  the  King  nor 
his  ministers  would  go  beyond  their  first  feeble  pro- 
tests, and  they  blindly  and  fatuously  yielded  to  all 
the  dictates  of  the  Russian  minister.  Japan  then 
tried  to  safeguard  her  own  interests  by  offering  to 
Russia  a free  hand,  as  far  as  she  was  concerned,  in 
Manchuria,  provided  the  safety  and  independence  of 
Korea  were  adequately  guaranteed  ; and  she  ex- 
hausted every  step  that  was  possible  in  patient 
diplomacy  in  her  endeavour  to  procure  Russia’s 


350 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


i 


assent  to  the  guarantees  which  she  considered  essen- 
tial. Russia  treated  her  well-meant  and  courteous 
efforts  with  offensive  indifference  till  her  patience 
was  exhausted,  and  the  Russo-Japanese  War  of 
1904-5  began.  Its  result  as  completely  put  an  end 
to  Russia’s  further  interference  in  Korea  as  the 
China-Japan  War  had  done  that  of  China  ten  years 
before.  By  the  second  clause  of  the  Treaty  of  Peace 
which  closed  the  war  Russia  pledged  herself  to  : 

“ recognise  the  preponderant  interest,  from  political,  military, 
and  economic  points  of  view,  of  Japan  in  the  Empire  of  Korea,  and 
not  to  oppose  any  measure  for  its  government,  protection,  or  control 
that  Japan  might  deem  it  necessary  to  take  in  Korea  in  conjunction 
with  the  Korean  Government.” 

By  two  great  wars  Japan  had  freed  Korea  from  all 
interference  on  the  part  of  the  two  great  neigh- 
bouring Empires,  and  she  was  now  herself  at  liberty 
to  start  on  the  task  of  the  regeneration  of  the  unhappy 
kingdom  which  had  been  the  ostensible  object  of  all 
her  interference  in  its  affairs  for  thirty  years.  Korea 
henceforth  stood  towards  Japan  in  the  same  relation 
as  that  of  Egypt  to  Great  Britain  since  1882,  and  the 
task  before  her  was  very  similar  to  that  which  faced 
Great  Britain — to  reform  a Government  rotten  with 
corruption  to  its  very  core,  and  to  elevate  a people 
reduced  by  ages  of  oppression  and  spoliation  to  the 
lowest  abysses  of  unrelieved  misery  and  hopeless 
poverty. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


THE  JAPANESE  PROTECTORATE,  1905-IO 

Japan  entered  on  the  war  with  Russia  with  absolute 
confidence  in  her  own  success,  in  so  far  as  the  future 
relative  positions  of  the  two  Empires  in  the  Far  East 
were  concerned.  She  had  neither  design  nor  hope  to 
injure  Russia  as  a great  European  Power,  but  her 
long  preparations,  carefully  and  minutely  made 
during  ten  years,  always  with  the  same  goal  in  view, 
her  confidence  in  the  skill  of  her  officers  and  the 
devoted  bravery  of  her  men,  and  the  exhaustive  in- 
formation as  to  the  conditions  of  the  Russian  Asiatic 
defences  that  she  had  obtained  through  her  secret 
service — the  most  wonderfully  organised  in  the  world 
— left  her  with  not  a particle  of  doubt  as  to  the  result 
of  her  campaigns  in  Korea  and  Manchuria.  The 
subordinate  officers  and  private  soldiers  had  no  less 
confidence  in  themselves  than  their  Government  and 
generals.  Some  of  them  had  seen,  all  had  heard  of, 
the  conduct  of  the  Russian  Asiatic  troops  during  the 
Boxer  troubles  in  1900,  when  they  indulged  in  a 
])crfect  orgy  of  slaughter  and  rapine,  and  their  dis- 
cipline, drill,  organisation,  and  skill  in  arms  were  all 
alike  regarded  with  utter  contempt  by  the  Japanese 
soldiers.  The  object  of  the  war  was  to  free  Korea 
from  the  ever-present  danger  of  absorption  by 
Russia.  For  Manchuria,  Japan  then  cared  but  little. 
She  would  have  been  perfectly  willing  to  have  left 

351 


352 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


Russia  a free  hand  there,  provided  she  was  in  return 
left  equally  free  in  Korea.  But  her  own  national 
safety,  even  her  existence,  depended  on  Korea’s  con- 
tinuance as  an  independent  kingdom,  or,  failing  that, 
her  incorporation  in  the  Japanese  Empire. 

All  Korea’s  history  in  recent  years  left  no  hope  that 
she  could  ever  reform  herself.  With  the  example  of 
Japan  before  her,  with  all  that  she  had  learned  from 
her  own  intercourse  with  European  nations,  her 
Government  had  continued  to  be  immerged  in  cor- 
ruption, to  be  ruled  by  sordid  intrigue,  and  to  be 
influenced  only  by  selfish  considerations  of  class 
interests.  They  had  given  no  evidence  of  patriotism, 
honesty,  or  capacity.  They  had  adopted  reforms 
that  were  forced  upon  them,  but  were  ready  to  abandon 
them  the  moment  the  pressure  was  removed.  They 
had  helplessly  cast  themselves,  in  turn,  on  the  pro- 
tection of  China,  Japan,  and  Russia,  and  never 
afforded  any  prospect  that  the  time  would  come 
when  they  could  stand  alone,  able  to  govern 
their  own  people  with  justice  and  mercy  or  to 
defend  themselves  against  foreign  aggression.  With 
such  a Government  strong  measures  were  necessary, 
and  Japan,  once  she  was  free  and  untrammelled,  lost 
no  time  in  showing  to  the  world  that  she  meant  to 
take  them.  Japan,  as  we  have  said,  had  no  doubts 
as  to  the  ultimate  issue  of  her  land  campaigns,  and 
in  the  very  first  month  of  the  war  she  assured  herself 
of  the  command  of  the  sea,  but  before  even  the 
Russian  army  had  been  driven  from  the  Yalu  the  first 
of  many  so-called  agreements  was  concluded  between 
the  Governments  of  Korea  and  Japan.  The  former 
pledged  itself  to  adopt  the  advice  of  the  latter  in 
regard  to  the  improvement  of  its  administration,  and 
the  latter  undertook  the  responsibility  of  maintaining 
peace,  both  internal  and  external,  and  “ guaranteed 
the  safety  and  repose  of  the  Imperial  House  ” and 


MAIN  STKEET  IN  MODEKX  SEUUI. 


THE  JAPANESE  PROTECTORATE  353 

“ the  independence  and  territorial  integrity  of 
Korea.”  Under  this  agreement  Japan  resumed  the 
position  of  administrative  adviser,  which  was  all  that 
she  had  held  during  the  brief  regime  of  Count  Inouye 
in  1895.  She  was  to  give  Korea  advice,  but,  theo- 
retically, Korea  was  still  free  to  adopt  or  reject  it  as 
she  pleased.  .When  Japan’s  “ free  hand  ” in  Korea, 
her  ‘‘  paramount  political,  military,  and  economical 
interests,”  were  formally  recognised  by  Russia  in  the 
Portsmouth  Treaty  of  September,  1905,  and  by 
England,  in  its  Treaty  of  Alliance  of  August  in  the 
same  year,  the  first  was  soon  followed  by  further 
agreements,  the  last  of  which,  signed  in  July,  1907, 
converted  Japan’s  advisory  into  a directing  position, 
and  gave  to  her  the  control  of  Korea’s  finance  and 
diplomacy,  of  her  postal  and  telegraph  services,  and, 
finally,  of  the  whole  of  her  internal  affairs.  The 
Korean  Army  was  disbanded  as  useless  and  hopeless, 
a source  of  expense  to  the  country,  and  formidable 
only  to  its  own  peaceful  citizens.  A Japanese 
Resident-General  was  appointed  in  1905,  and  the 
agreement  of  1907  vested  him  with  what  was  prac- 
tically sovereign  authority,  giving  him  complete  con- 
trol of  all  legislative  and  executive  functions  and 
the  right  of  appointing  and  dismissing  officials  on 
his  sole  responsibility.  Japanese  Residents  were  also 
nominated  at  the  principal  ports,  who,  in  like  ways, 
virtually  became  the  Governors  of  their  respective 
districts.  Korean  ministers  were  still  the  nominal 
chiefs  of  all  the  principal  Government  departments, 
but  in  each  they  had  Japanese  officials  as  their  vice- 
ministers  and  Japanese  technical  advisers  were  em- 
ployed in  every  bureau.  The  disbandment  of  the 
Korean  Army  was  followed  by  several  local  risings, 
in  which  the  disbanded  soldiers  drilled  and  led  the 
insurgents  ; and  profiting,  as  their  ancestors  had  done 
when  fighting  against  Hideyoshi,  by  the  facilities  for 

23 


354 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


guerilla  warfare  which  the  natural  conditions  of  the 
country  afforded,  they  offered  such  a stout  resistance 
to  the  Japanese  troops  sent  against  them  that  they 
were  not  suppressed  till  after  many  months,  with 
great  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  to  themselves  and 
substantial  loss  to  the  Japanese. 

Japan  testified  her  desire  to  use  her  new  powers 
to  the  very  utmost  advantage  by  nominating  Marquis 
I to,  the  great  statesman  to  whose  constructive  genius 
she  herself  owed  so  much,  as  the  first  Resident - 
General  ; and  he,  with  characteristic  energy  and 
thoroughness,  started  at  once  on  cleansing  the  Augean 
stable  which  he  found  before  him,  in  which  the  foulest 
stall  of  corruption  was,  perhaps,  the  Court  itself. 
In  taxation,  in  the  administration  of  justice,  in  the 
police  service,  in  every  sphere  of  national  and  local 
administration,  selfish  and  dishonest  parasites  of  the 
Court,  acting  in  the  name  of  the  King,  “ who  saw 
nothing,  heard  nothing,  knew  nothing,”  were  casting 
their  fatal  blight  on  the  nation,  with  no  thought  of 
anything  but  their  own  enrichment.  The  entire 
administration  of  the  Court,  its  property  and 
revenues,  was  taken  in  charge  by  Japanese  officials  ; 
the  Court  and  State  were  differentiated,  so  that  con- 
fusion between  the  Royal  and  State  revenues  no 
longer  existed  ; a Cabinet  was  formed  on  the  model 
of  that  in  Japan,  in  which  the  head  of  each  depart- 
ment is  responsible  for  the  efficient  conduct  of  all 
business  that  falls  within  his  jurisdiction.  An 
elaborate  scheme  of  local  government  w'as  adopted, 
under  which  considerable  powers  of  local  taxation 
and  administration  were  left  to  the  authorities  of 
each  district.  The  judicial  and  executive  functions 
were,  under  the  Korean  Government,  vested  in  the 
same  officials.  They  were  now  separated  and  inde- 
pendent courts  of  justice  established,  presided  over, 
both  in  the  central  and  district  courts,  by  Japanese 


THE  JAPANESE  PROTECTORATE  355 


judges,  and  a beginning  was  made  in  codifying  the 
laws.  Hitherto  the  administration  of  justice  had 
been  entirely  at  the  will  of  executive  officials,  and 
their  decisions  were  invariably  given  to  the  party 
who  offered  the  highest  bribe.  Torture  was  an  inci- 
dent in  every  criminal  trial,  and  not  only  the  accused 
but  the  witnesses  were  subjected  to  it.  The  prisons 
were  infernos  of  human  suffering,  destitute  of  every 
semblance  of  sanitation,  in  which  the  prisoners  often 
died  of  hunger  or  cold  ; where  punishments  of 
flogging,  so  severe  as  often  to  cause  permanent 
mutilation  or  death,  were  of  daily  occurrence  ; where 
the  death  penalty — inflicted  for  very  trivial  crimes — 
was  carried  out  in  slow  and  agonising  forms  of 
strangulation  or  poisoning  ; and  where  no  distinction 
was  made  between  the  convicted  felon  and  the  prisoner 
awaiting  trial,  between  the  professional  criminal  whose 
whole  life  had  been  an  unbroken  career  of  murder 
and  robbery  and  the  pilferer  who  had  yielded  to  a 
momentary  temptation.  All  these  abuses  were  re- 
formed with  an  unsparing  hand.  Jails  were  estab- 
lished on  the  model  of  those  in  Japan,  where  the 
punishment  and  reformation  of  criminals  have  been 
elevated  into  a science,  the  guiding  principle  of  which 
is  that,  while  the  guilty  must  be  punished,  his 
reformation  is  always  to  be  kept  in  view,  so  that 
when  his  freedom  comes  he  may  be  a useful  member 
of  society.  Along  with  the  new  prisons,  steps  were 
taken  to  organise  an  efficient  police-force,  and 
training  schools  were  established  in  which  the  prin- 
cipal details  of  their  duties  were  taught  to  candidates. 
Schools  of  every  grade — primary,  high,  normal, 
technical,  and  industrial — were  opened  ; and  though 
it  was  not  found  practicable  to  make  education  com- 
pulsory at  first,  and  great  prejudices  against  Japanese 
teachers  had  to  be  overcome  before  parents  could 
be  induced  to  trust  their  children  to  them,  the  advan- 


356 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


tages  of  the  new  schools  are  now  being  steadily 
learned  by  the  people,  and  the  numbers  of  the  pupils 
show  large  annual  increases.  Hospitals  and  water- 
works have  been  established  in  the  great  cities,  both 
in  accordance  with  the  most  advanced  principles  of 
medical  and  engineering  science,  and  both  are  con- 
tributing to  the  improved  health  and  sanitation  of 
the  people. 

The  last  result  of  Prince  Ito’s  administration  which 
we  need  mention  is  the  improvement  of  the  internal 
communications.  Korea,  under  its  own  Government, 
possessed  only  one  great  highway  that  was  worthy 
of  the  name  of  a road — that  which  led  from  the 
capital  to  the  north-west  frontier,  which  was  con- 
structed mainly  for  the  benefit  of  the  annual  Chinese 
embassy.  Save  that,  the  roads  were  merely  bridle- 
paths, unfitted  for  either  military  or  commercial 
traffic,  which,  at  the  very  best,  permitted  the  passing 
of  two  laden  oxen.  The  construction  of  new  roads, 
well  laid  and  drained,  with  wide  spaces  on  both  sides, 
was  at  once  commenced,  and  the  work  is  being 
steadily  pushed  forward.  The  inception  of  railways 
in  Korea  was  the  result  of  American  enterprise,  but 
it  passed  at  a very  early  stage  into  the  hands  of 
Japanese  ; and  all  that  exist  are  now  under  the 
control  and  management  of  the  Imperial  Railway 
Board  at  Tokio.  The  total  length  now  in  actual 
operation  is  637  miles  of  a standard  gauge  of  4 feet 
inches,  the  two  principal  lines  being  from  Fusan 
to  Seoul,  with  a branch  to  Chemulpo,  and  from 
Seoul  to  Wiju  on  the  frontier,  these  two  lines  pro- 
viding a continuous  route  from  the  south-eastern  to 
the  north-western  extremity  of  the  peninsula.  At  the 
south  they  are  connected  with  the  railways  of  Japan 
by  steamers  which  run  twice  daily  from  both  Fusan 
and  Shimonoseki,  and  on  the  north  only  the  com- 
pletion of  a bridge  across  the  Yalu  is  awaited  to 


THE  GENERAL  HOSPITAL,  SEOUL. 


THE  JAPANESE  PROTECTORATE  357 


connect  Seoul  by  rail  with  Europe."  All  have  been 
entirely  constructed  by  Japanese  engineers  with 
Japanese  capital.  In  the  fifteen  years  that  have 
elapsed  since  Japan  acquired  the  possession  of 
Formosa  she  has  done  more  for  the  material  advance- 
ment of  the  island  and  the  development  of  its  great 
resources  than  the  Chinese  had  achieved  during 
nearly  three  centuries.  In  the  four  years  which  have 
elapsed  since  she  acquired  effective  control  of  the 
administration  of  Korea  she  has  already  accomplished 
more  permanent  reforms  than  all  that  Korea  did  of 
herself,  with  her  able  European  advisers,  in  her  pre- 
vious experience,  during  twenty-five  years,  of  Western 
civilisation. 

The  particulars  we  have  given  are  only  an  index 
of  the  great  work  which  Prince  I to  had  already 
accomplished  when  he  fell  by  an  assassin’s  hand  on 
October  26,  1909.  In  giving  all  credit  due  to 
him  for  the  material  benefits  which  he  conferred  on 
Korea,  and  for  the  reforms  which  he  made  in  her 
political  and  social  system,  that  which  is  no  less  due 
to  one  who  preceded  him  must  not  be  forgotten. 
When  the  administration  of  the  Korean  Customs, 
while  the  kingdom  was  still  independent,  was 
entrusted  to  the  officials  of  the  great  Customs 
Service  of  China,  Mr.  McLeavy  Brown,^  a British 
subject,  of  Irish  birth  and  education,  who  had  had 
long  experience  in  China,  was  appointed  Chief  Com- 
missioner in  Korea.  He  soon  afterwards  united  with 
that  the  office  of  Controller  of  the  National  Treasury, 
and  he  served  Korea  for  over  ten  years  in  the  dual 
capacity.  Working  in  the  face  of  the  opposition, 
not  only  of  a corrupt  and  bigoted  Ministry,  but  of 

• At  the  time  of  writing  only  a light  military  railway  connects  the 
frontier  with  Mukden,  but  the  permanent  line  will  be  completed 
and  open  to  traffic  in  a few  months. 

* Now  Sir  John  McLeavy  Brown. 


358 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


European  diplomatists  and  consuls  who  were  seeking 
concessions  and  contracts  for  their  own  citizens  and 
political  advantages  for  their  countries,  and  who, 
to  gain  their  own  selfish  ends,  were  not  ashamed  to 
pander  to  the  worst  vices  of  the  Government  and  to 
offer  a passive  obstruction  to  all  reform,  without  the 
prestige  and  active  support  of  a great  and  success- 
ful military  power  at  his  back,  he  not  only  raised 
Korean  finance  and  currency  from  the  abyss  of  chaos 
and  corruption  into  which  they  had  been  brought  by 
dishonest  officials,  and  effected  a great  retrenchment 
in  the  national  expenditure,  but  he  transformed  the 
whole  appearance  of  the  capital  by  the  municipal 
reforms  which  he  initiated  and  carried  through.  Its 
streets  were  drained,  and,  freed  from  the  obstruction 
of  pedlars’  booths  which  had  formerly  choked  them, 
they  became  broad,  picturesque,  sanitary  thorough- 
fares, instead  of  foul  lanes,  offensive  in  their  aspect 
and  conditions  both  to  sight  and  smell.  They  are 
now  further  dignified  by  the  public  buildings,  the 
homes  of  the  various  Government  departments,  which 
have  been  erected  by  the  Japanese  with  a lavish 
hand  ; but  the  renovation  of  the  streets  was 
finished  and  electric  tramways  and  lighting,  tele- 
graphs and  telephones,  were  all  factors  in  the  life 
of  the  capital  long  before  the  Residency-General  of 
Japan  was  thought  of.  Some  of  these  were  initiated 
during  Japan’s  brief  period  of  domination  in  1895  ; 
but  they  were  speedily  permitted  to  lapse,  and  their 
revival  and  accomplishment  were  entirely  due  to  Mr. 
McLeavy  Brown. 

The  Tai  Won  Kun  ended  his  long  life  of  cruelty 
and  conspiracy  in  1898.  The  Queen  was  murdered 
in  1895.  In  the  same  year  the  ascendancy  of  Japan 
temporarily  ended,  and  that  of  China  had  closed  for 
ever  in  1894.  The  King  was  thus  freed  from  the 
principal  controlling  influences  of  his  life,  and  in  the 


THE  JAPANESE  PROTECTORATE  359 


revulsion  which  accompanied  his  restoration  to  liberty 
and  power  after  his  imprisonment  in  his  own  palace 
and  in  the  Russian  Legation  he  reverted  to  many  of 
the  worst  abuses  of  the  throne,  and  became  the  tool 
of  the  party  or  adventurer  that  was  the  last  to  gain 
his  ear.  The  dead  Queen’s  place  was  taken  by  a 
lady  who  had  been  a palace  attendant,  and  who, 
prior  to  her  entry  to  the  palace,  is  said  to  have  had 
a very  varied  career  and  many  lords.  .Whatever  her 
past  had  been,  she  acquired  over  the  King  an 
influence  hardly  less  than  that  of  the  murdered 
Queen,  which  she  used  with  the  most  selfish  un- 
scrupulousness. 

One  of  the  principal  advisers  of  the  King  was  the 
chair  coolie  who  had  helped  the  Queen  in  her  flight 
from  the  palace  in  1882.  The  Queen  did  not  forget 
him  when  she  resumed  her  throne.  He  received  a 
post  in  the  palace,  and,  once  there,  his  abilities  gradu- 
ally raised  him  in  the  favour  of  the  King,  till  at  last 
he  received  the  post  of  Minister  of  Finance.  In 
that  capacity  he  earned  the  royal  favour  and  gratitude 
by  the  ingenuity  which  he  showed  in  providing,  by 
new  taxes  and  a clever  manipulation  of  the  currency, 
the  means  for  the  indulgence  of  his  master’s  whims 
and  pleasures.  The  King  was  completely  under  the 
influence  of  both  lady  and  adviser,  and  the  national 
interests  were  the  very  last  consideration  to  enter 
into  the  minds  of  either. 

Every  new  limit  that  was  placed  on  his  former 
arbitrary  powers  was  viewed  by  the  King  with  dis- 
favour, and  was  opposed  with  the  whole  strength  of 
the  Court.  One  last  despairing  effort  was  made  to 
stem  the  flowing  tide  of  progress  and  to  maintain 
the  country  in  its  old  position  as  a preserve  for 
a favoured  class.  Impotent  against  the  strong  will 
and  arm  of  the  great  Japanese  statesman  and  his 
adjutants,  the  King  endeavoured  to  obtain  the  help 


360 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


of  .Western  powers.  In  1907  an  embassy  was  sent  to 
the  United  States  and  Europe  to  lay  Korea’s  plight 
before  the  representatives  of  the  great  powers,  who 
in  that  year  were  assembled  at  the  Hague  Con- 
ference, and  to  solicit  their  intervention  against 
Japan.  It  was  hopeless  from  the  first.  No  power 
cared  to  interfere  now  that  Russia  was  driven  from 
the  field.  None  had  such  material  interests  in  Korea 
as  would  induce  it  to  enter  into  even  a diplomatic 
controversy  with  Japan,  and  the  lesson  which  Russia 
has  received  will  be  sufficient  for  all  time  to  prevent 
any  Western  power  venturing  to  interfere  in  what 
Japan  considers  her  own  peculiar  field,  unless  driven 
to  do  so  by  very  strong  considerations  of  national 
welfare  or  honour.  The  embassy  returned,  and  its 
only  results  were  that  the  Emperor  was  forced  to 
abdicate  in  favour  of  his  son  and  the  conclusion  of 
the  new  and  drastic  convention  of  July,  1907,  to 
which  we  have  already  referred.  The  Japanese  were 
determined  to  brook  no  more  opposition,  and  they 
were  less  likely  to  receive  it  from  a young  Sovereign, 
new  to  his  dignity  and  unaccustomed  to  the  exercise 
of  authority,  than  from  one  who  had  reigned  both 
as  Pope  and  temporal  Sovereign  for  more  than  forty 
years,  in  whom  the  exercise  of  an  unfettered 
autocracy  had  become  second  nature.  On  July  19, 
1907,  the  Emperor  laid  do^v^l  his  crown,  and  his 
long,  unhappy  reign  came  to  an  end — the  reign  which 
commenced  with  the  extermination  of  Christians 
within  his  dominions  and  ended  with  these  dominions 
in  the  firm  grasp  of  his  traditional  enemy — the  enemy 
which  for  fifteen  hundred  years  had  been  a scourge  to 
his  country.  The  new  Emperor’s  reign  was  destined 
to  be  brief.  Everything  had  been  tending  towards 
one  unavoidable  end,  and  on  August  22,  1910,  the 
last  step  was  taken  and  Korea  was  formally  annexed 
to  the  Japanese  Empire.  The  dynasty  of  sovereigns, 


THE  JAPANESE  PROTECTORATE  361 


which  had  continued  in  an  unbroken  line  from  1392, 
came  to  an  end  with  the  independence  of  their 
country,  whose  national  traditions  and  history  had 
extended  over  four  thousand  years,  whose  founda- 
tion as  a kingdom  was  coeval  with  that  of  the 
Assyrian  Empire  ; and  the  two  last  living  representa- 
tives of  the  dynasty  exchanged  their  positions  as 
Imperial  dignitaries  for  those  of  princes  and 
pensioners  of  Japan. 

Japan  claimed  to  have  honestly  done  her  best  to 
render  practicable  the  fulfilment  both  of  agreements 
and  treaties  in  which  she  had  guaranteed,  at  first 
specifically  and  afterwards  impliedly,  that  the  con- 
tinued existence  of  Korea  as  an  independent  kingdom 
would  be  maintained,  but  she  had  found  the  task 
impossible.  All  her  “ earnest  and  laborious  work 
of  reforms  in  the  administration  of  Korea  ” had  not 
made  the  existing  system  of  government  in  that 
country  entirely  equal  to  the  duty  of  preserving  public 
order  and  tranquillity,  and  in  addition  “ a spirit  of 
suspicion  and  misgiving  dominated  the  whole 
peninsula.” 

“ In  their  solicitude  to  put  an  end  to  disturbing  conditions  the 
Japanese  Government  made  an  arrangement  in  igos  for  establishing 
a protectorate  over  Korea  and  they  have  ever  since  been  assiduously 
engaged  in  works  of  reform,  looking  forward  to  the  consummation 
of  a desired  end.  But  they  have  failed  to  find  in  the  regime  of  a 
protectorate  sufficient  hope  for  the  realisation  of  the  object  which 
they  had  in  view,  and  a condition  of  unrest  and  disquietude  still 
prevails  throughout  the  whole  peninsula.  In  these  circumstances 
the  necessity  of  introducing  fundamental  changes  in  the  system  of 
government  in  Korea  has  become  entirely  manifest  and  an  earnest 
and  careful  examination  of  the  Korean  problem  has  convinced  the 
Japanese  Government  that  the  regime  of  a protectorate  can  not  be 
made  to  adapt  itself  to  the  actual  condition  of  affairs  in  Korea,  and 
that  the  responsibilities  devolving  upon  Japan  for  the  due  adminis- 
tration of  the  country  can  not  be  justly  fulfilled  without  the  complete 
annexation  of  Korea  to  the  Empire.” 


362 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


Such  were  the  terms  in  which  Japan  justified  her 
action  to  the  world.  It  was  taken,  not  for  the  grati- 
fication of  the  stratocratic  ambition  of  a militant 
power,  but  to  secure  peace  in  the  Far  East,  and  the 
advantages  of  progressive  and  civilised  government 
to  a people  whose  own  rulers  have  proved  them- 
selves unfitted  for  their  duties.  Japan  had  in  Korea 
since  1905,  as  will  have  been  gathered  from  pre- 
ceding pages  in  this  volume,  the  same  field  as  Great 
Britain  had  in  Egypt  after  1882.  Japan  had  by 
her  own  confession  failed  where  Great  Britain  suc- 
ceeded. The  Egyptian  Court  and  Government  were 
only  a degree  less  corrupt  than  that  of  Korea,  the 
people  only  a degree  less  serf-like  and  oppressed. 
Under  the  British  protectorate  the  Court  and  Govern- 
ment of  Egypt  have  been  purified,  and  her  people 
converted  into  industrious  and  self-respecting  citizens, 
whose  nationalistic  spirit  has  been  fostered,  not  stifled, 
by  their  reformers,  who  now  claim  to  be  entitled 
to  all  the  privileges  of  a self-governing,  constitutional 
community. 

Japan  confessed  that  the  attainment  of  these  ends  in 
Korea  was  not  yet  even  within  view  at  the  time  of  the 
annexation.  She  has  had,  however,  to  overcome  diffi- 
culties and  remedy  mistakes  of  which  Great  Britain 
had  no  experience  in  Egypt.  She  was  faced  with 
the  legacy  of  hatred  bequeathed  by  Japanese  pirates 
in  the  Middle  Ages,  and  by  Hideyoshi’s  ruthless 
armies,  which  gave  Japanese  soldiers  a place  in 
Korean  hearts  similar  to  that  which  the  Cromwellian 
held  in  those  of  the  Irish  peasants,  a place  which 
to  the  present  day  makes  “ the  curse  of  Cromwell 
on  you,”  the  deepest  malediction  which  the  Irishman 
can  utter  in  the  worst  transports  of  his  deepest 
passion.  No  British  official  of  high  rank  in  Egypt 
ever  became  the  willing  tool  or  the  instigator  or 
partner  of  native  conspirators  and  assassins.  Great 


THE  JAPANESE  PROTECTORATE  363 


Britain  did  not  permit  Egypt  to  be  overrun  by  the 
scum  of  her  own  population,  and  the  timid,  helpless 
fellaheen  to  be  terrified,  beaten,  and  plundered  by 
bullies  and  cheats  from  the  worst  slums  of  the  great 
cities  of  the  United  Kingdom,  nor  did  she  permit  the 
empty  phrase  of  “ military  necessity  ” to  be  a justi- 
fication for  the  wholesale  spoliation  of  lands  and 
houses  by  her  soldiers  and  officials.  All  this  Japan 
has  had  to  answer  for  in  Korea.  Writers  whose 
honesty  and  credibility  are  beyond  all  suspicion  have 
over  and  over  again  described  the  tyrannical 
oppression  and  ruthless  spoliation  to  which  peaceful 
Korean  citizens  have  been  wantonly  subjected,  not 
only  by  Japanese  adventurers  but  by  soldiers  and 
officials.  Of  these  incidents  or  of  the  general  conduct 
of  Japanese  soldiers  or  settlers  in  Korea,  the  present 
writer  can  say  nothing  of  his  own  knowledge,  as  his 
latest  direct  experience  of  Korea  is  two  decades  old. 
But  there  are  few  incidents  that  have  been  described 
as  having  occurred  in  Korea  the  parallel  of  which 
the  present  writer  did  not  see  or  hear  of  during 
the  early  military  occupation  of  Formosa,  and  there 
can  be  no  reason  to  doubt  that  what  occurred  in 
Formosa  was  repeated  in  Korea,  even  if  we  had  not 
authoritative  testimony  to  that  effect.  The  Japanese 
have  redeemed  their  initial  errors  in  Formosa,  and 
under  their  rule  it  is  becoming  a prosperous  colony  ; 
and  its  inhabitants  of  Chinese  descent,  more  alien 
in  race,  language,  customs,  and  ideas  to  the  Japanese 
than  are  the  Koreans,  have,  we  are  told,  forgotten 
the  cruelty  to  which  they  were  at  first  subjected,  and 
under  just  and  strict  government  are  becoming 
orderly  and  contented  citizens  of  the  Japanese 
Empire.  May  not  Ave  hope  that  a similar  success  will 
ere  many  years  have  lapsed  be  achieved  in  Korea, 
and  that  the  immense  material  benefits  which  the 
Japanese  have  already  conferred  on  the  country  will 


364 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


be  followed  by  the  heart-whole  conciliation  of  the 
people? 

The  Japanese  have  one  great  weapon  in  their  hands 
which  has  never  failed  them.  The  word  and  will 
of  their  Emperor  are  sacred.  His  commands  are 
received  with  all  the  reverential  obedience  that  we 
theoretically  render  to  those  of  the  Decalogue.  The 
worst  ruffian  among  his  subjects  assumes  lamblike 
mildness  when  the  Emperor  declares  that  his  Imperial 
honour  is  concerned.  There  is  enough  of  the  old 
leaven  still  left  in  the  samurai-born  official  to  induce 
him  to  contemplate  the  hara-kiri  of  his  forefathers 
if  he  fails  in  carrying  out  his  Emperor’s  wishes. 
Fifteen  years  ago  there  was  an  extraordinary  epi- 
demic among  the  lowest  Japanese  classes  at  the  great 
shipping  ports  of  Japan  of  wanton  assaults  on 
Europeans.  Even  ladies  were  often  the  victims. 
Many  of  the  perpetrators  were  coolies  who  had 
followed  the  armies  through  the  China  War,  and 
carried  back  with  them  to  their  o^\^l  country  the 
habits  that  Kirke’s  soldiers  did  from  Tangier.  It 
was  brought  to  the  Emperor’s  owm  knowledge,  and 
an  Imperial  rescript  at  once  appeared  notifying  his 
Majesty’s  disapproval  of  such  acts.  The  assaults 
ceased  at  once.  Twelve  years  ago  European  resi- 
dents in  Japan  viewed  with  many  gloomy  forebodings 
their  subjection  to  the  jurisdiction  of  Japanese 
officials  on  the  abolition  of  the  old  treaties,  and  with 
their  previous  experience  of  the  spirit  which  actuates 
the  lower  grade  of  Japanese  officials  in  discrimi- 
nating between  foreigners  and  their  own  countrymien, 
they  had  only  too  good  ground  for  their  fears.  On 
the  day  on  which  the  old  treaties  died,  an  Imperial 
rescript  appeared,  proclaiming  that  it  was  his 
Majesty’s  earnest  wish  that  his  officials  of  every 
degree  should  act  equitably  and  administer  justice 
impartially  as  between  subjects  and  strangers,  that 


THE  JAPANESE  PROTECTORATE  365 

all  should  enjoy  equally  the  advantages  of  good 
government.  None  of  the  forebodings  of  the 
European  residents  in  Japan  has  been  realised, 
and  they  have  continued  to  live  and  trade  in 
Japan  in  perfect  confidence  of  security  of  liberty 
and  property.  When  Japan  took  another  great 
step  in  her  national  career,  when  by  one  stroke 
of  the  pen  she  added  ten  million  people  to  her 
citizens,  and  established  herself  as  a continental  as 
well  as  an  insular  power,  another  Imperial  rescript 
appeared  in  which  his  Majesty  declared  that  “ all 
Koreans  under  his  sway  shall  enjoy  growing  pros- 
perity and  welfare,  and  be  assured  of  repose  and 
security,”  and  called  upon  ‘‘  all  his  officials  and 
authorities  to  fulfil  their  duties  in  appreciation  of 
his  will.” 

This  rescript  may  have  the  effect  of  its  prede- 
cessors and  herald  the  dawn  of  a new  era  in  a 
country  which  hitherto  has  known  nothing  but  un- 
happiness. The  Japanese  have  a great  task  before 
them  before  they  can  remedy  the  errors  which  they 
have  made  in  Korea  during  the  past  thirty  years,  and 
let  the  curtain  of  oblivion  fall  over  the  many  glaring 
misdeeds  which  have  too  often  covered  their  adminis- 
tration with  shame.  The  present  writer  believes  that 
they  will  show  themselves  equal  to  their  task,  that 
they  will  prove  not  unworthy  of  the  high  position 
which  they  hold  as  the  equal  of  the  greatest  Christian 
powers  of  the  world,  and  that  they  will  in  deference 
to  the  commands  of  their  Emperor  bring  all  the 
blessings  of  good  and  honest  government  to  a people 
who  have  been  throughout  all  their  history  the  most 
misgoverned  on  earth. 


CHAPTER  XVII 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY 

The  estimates  of  the  population  of  Korea  given  by 
the  best  European  authorities,  even  in  recent  years, 
diverge  very  widely,  their  figures  varying  so  much 
as  from  seventeen  to  six  million  people,  and  it  must 
be  acknowledged  that  all  the  available  information 
in  regard  to  it  is,  as  yet,  very  far  from  definite. 
An  attempt  to  take  a national  census  was  made  by 
the  police  department,  under  the  directions  of  its 
Japanese  advisers,  in  the  year  1906,  and  the  result 
of  their  investigations  showed  that  there  were  in  that 
year  2,333,037  households,  occupied  by  9,781,671 
people,  and  this  is  the  nearest  attempt  at  accuracy 
that  has  as  yet  been  made.  The  figures  are  neither 
exhaustive  nor  authentic.  They  do  not  include  the 
inhabitants  of  the  islands,  some  of  which  are  very 
thickly  populated,  nor  of  the  remote  mountain  dis- 
tricts in  the  north,  while  even  in  those  districts  in 
which  the  census  was  taken  the  officials  were  in 
almost  every  rural  community  thwarted  by  the 
opposition  of  the  people  themselves.  When  we  read 
of  the  suspicion  with  which  census  inquiries  were 
received  by  some  of  the  lower  classes  in  England  in 
the  present  year,  it  is  not  surprising  to  know  that 
in  a country  like  Korea,  where  the  people  had  been 
taught  for  generations  to  consider  themselves  only 
as  instruments  for  providing  the  luxuries  and  necessi- 
ties of  life  for  those  above  them,  the  census  was 

366 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY 


367 


regarded  merely  as  new  machinery  for  further  taxa- 
tion, and  that  it  was  therefore  resisted  to  the  utmost, 
and  the  necessary  information  withheld  as  far  as 
possible.  The  peculiar  social  conditions  of  Korea  sug- 
gested a further  obstacle  on  the  part  of  the  native  local 
authorities.  They  were  anxious  to  conceal  the  number 
of  full-grown  men  in  their  districts  available  to  them 
for  the  purposes  of  forced  labour  or  for  illegitimate 
taxation,  and  they  added  their  opposition  to  that  of 
the  ignorant  peasants.  Such  as  they  are,  the  figures 
obtained  by  this  census  are  the  best  that  can  be  given, 
and  must  be  accepted  until  the  time  when  the  inquiries 
that  are  now  being  prosecuted  by  the  Japanese  police 
furnish  us  with  others  that  are  more  precise.  They 
afford  no  information  as  to  the  classification  of  the 
people  by  rank,  occupation,  age,  or  sex,  and  on  these 
points  we  are  still  reduced  to  vague  generalities. 
The  Yangban,  the  unproductive  drones  of  the  nation, 
are  said  to  comprise  one-fifth  of  the  whole  population. 
Of  the  balance,  nine-tenths  are  said  to  be  engaged 
in  agriculture,  and  the  males  in  all  classes  are  said 
to  exceed  the  females  in  number. 

The  figures,  assuming  that  they  are  approximately 
correct,  furnish  a strong  commept  on  the  results  of 
the  policy  of  national  isolation.  The  Koreans  are  a 
strongly  passionate  people,  and  marriage  at  an  early 
age  is  universal  among  them.  They  do  not  live 
entirely  on  rice  as  do  the  majority  of  Asiatics,  not 
only  those  in  the  tropics  but  even  the  inhabitants  of 
Manchuria  and  Hokkaido,  where  the  winters  are 
arctic.  Their  diet  is,  to  a considerable  extent, 
provided  by  the  animal  world,  while  the  seas  around 
their  coasts,  badly  exploited  as  they  are,  furnish 
them  with  an  unfailing  supply  of  fish.  In  normal 
years  their  supply  of  food,  both  from  the  vegetable 
and  animal  worlds,  is  abundant  and  cheap.  There 
is,  therefore,  every  economic  reason — early  marriage. 


368 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


low  standards  of  life,  and  cheap  food — which  should 
have  caused  their  numbers  to  increase  at  as  great  a 
ratio  as  the  most  prolific  of  other  nations.  But,  un- 
fortunately, all  years  were  not  normal.  Their  history 
shows  that  few  decades  passed  unmarked  by  severe 
famines,  the  result  of  harvests  destroyed  by  drought  or 
excessive  rain,  and  while  they  lasted  (one  is  recorded 
to  have  been  continuous  for  seven  years)  the  people 
died  wholesale.  Even  so  late  as  1872  they  are  said 
to  have  perished  in  tens  of  thousands  from  hunger, 
and  cholera  and  typhus  were  always  ready  to  follow 
on  the  track  of  famine  and  complete  the  work  which 
it  had  begun.  All  early  censuses  (one  is  authentically 
recorded  as  having  been  taken  so  early  as  the  fifteenth 
century)  must  have  been  even  more  unreliable  than 
that  of  1906  ; but  if  a rough  estimate  of  the  whole 
population  can  be  formed  from  the  strength  of  the 
armies  which  Korea  put  into  the  field  without  diffi- 
culty during  the  Japanese  and  Manchu  invasions,  she 
must  have  had  a population  at  the  close  of  the  six- 
teenth and  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 
centuries  at  least  equal  to  that  of  the  present. 
Famine  and  its  attendant  epidemics  checked  its 
natural  increase — famine  that  might  always  have  been 
avoided  had  the  people  been  free  to  procure  food 
from  their  neighbours  when  their  own  harvests  failed 
them. 

While  agriculture  is  the  chief  national  industr>', 
occupying  between  six  and  sev^en  millions  of  the 
whole  population,  and  both  soil  and  climate,  under 
normal  conditions,  give  the  most  generous  rewards  to 
the  labour  of  the  husbandmen,  only  one-tenth  of 
the  peninsula  is  said  to  be  cultivated.  Natural 
difficulties  are  to  some  extent  responsible  for  this. 
The  forest-clad  mountains,  by  which  the  north-eastern 
provinces  are  covered,  render  extensive  farming  im- 
possible, and  all  Korea  is  a land  of  hills  formidable 


Sl»AI>E-\V()KK. 

(Ftijm  SUnviiraf'li  Cof-yright,  Ciitlfm'coil  & I'luitnisjod,  f.oiuhn.) 


To  face  p.  36S. 


4 


* 


■lli. 


% 


i 


..m*y 


* 


:l 

'•« 


' t 'l 


• ; 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY 


369 


to  the  plough.  But  it  is  less  so  than  Japan  ; and 
while  everywhere  in  Japan,  even  on  the  small  out- 
lying islands,  the  hills  are  seen  terraced  to  their 
summits  with  highly  cultivated,  garden -like  patches, 
those  in  Korea  are  left  bare  and  unused,  denuded  of 
their  trees  for  firewood  and  covered  only  with  rank 
bamboo  grass.  In  the  valleys  the  Korean  farmer 
finds  sufficient  ground  to  produce  enough  for  the 
simple  wants  of  himself  and  his  family.  He  had 
under  the  administration  of  his  own  Government, 
no  inducement  to  do  more.  If  he  did  all  the  surplus 
was  taken  from  him  by  the  aristocratic  and  official 
robbers,  “ the  licensed  vampires  of  the  country,”  who 
battened  on  him.  The  production  of  the  land  could 
have  been  doubled  or  trebled,  but  nothing  was  to 
be  gained  by  the  cultivator  by  additional  energy  or 
enterprise.  As  it  was,  he  worked  harder  than  any 
other  member  of  the  community,  but  even  his  greatest 
efforts  at  industry  were  listless  and  perfunctory. 

The  principal  crops  are  rice,  beans,  peas,  millet, 
wheat,  and  barley  ; the  secondary  tobacco,  cotton, 
castor-oil,  and  potatoes.  The  Koreans  understand 
or  care  little  about  the  selection  of  seeds  ; they 
have  no  system  of  artificial  irrigation,  and  they  use 
but  little  manure  ; and  yet  such  are  the  advantages 
of  soil  and  climate  that  two  crops  are  raised  from 
the  same  land  each  year.  All  farming  operations  are 
carried  out  in  the  most  primitive  manner.  Three 
men  at  least  are  required  to  use  a spakie — one  to 
guide  it  by  the  handle,  two  others  to  raise  it  from 
the  ground  by  ropes  attached  to  a long  blade,  and 
the  two  latter  are  sometimes  increased  to  six  or  eight. 
Oxen  are  used  to  drag  the  plough,  but  it  is  made  of 
wood.  Rice  and  barley  are  threshed  by  beating  on 
a board,  winnowed  by  the  simple  process  of  throw- 
ing the  grains  in  the  wind,  and  milled  by  pestles  in 
a wooden  mortar. 


24 


370 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


In  the  improvement  of  agriculture  the  Japanese 
administrators  are  taking  a strong  interest,  and  had 
done  much  for  the  education  of  the  farmers  by  pro- 
viding them  with  practical  and  theoretical  lessons 
in  model  agricultural  and  horticultural  farms,  seed 
nurseries,  sericultural  training  institutes,  dendro- 
logical  schools,  and  cattle-breeding  stations,  even 
before  the  annexation  took  place.  Results  are 
already  apparent.  Many  of  the  farmers  are  begin- 
ning to  appreciate  what  is  being  done  for  them, 
and  are  using  the  seeds  provided  for  them  and  fol- 
lowing the  directions  given  to  them  in  sowing  them. 
The  quality  of  cocoons  and  raw  silks  has  improved. 
The  same  is  found  to  be  the  case  in  cotton. 
Investigation  and  experiment  have  shown  that  both 
soil  and  climate  are  eminently  suited  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  upland  cotton,  and  larger  and  better  crops 
are  now  being  obtained  than  when  the  farmer  used 
his  old  seeds  in  the  old  way.  “ It  is  no  exaggeration 
to  say  that  Korea  is  a natural  orchard,”  and  grapes, 
pears,  apples,  and  vegetables  now  promise,  under 
improved  methods  of  cultivation,  to  become  a very 
substantial  item  in  rural  industry.  Encouragement 
has  been  given  for  the  reclamation  of  waste  lands 
and  marshes,  of  which  there  are  said  to  be  three 
million  acres  capable  of  development,  nearly  all  the 
property  of  the  Government.  The  freehold  or 
preferential  leases  of  these  lands  have  now  been 
promised  to  settlers  who  reclaim  them.  Forestry 
and  the  protection  of  forests  were  entirely  neglected 
by  the  old  Government,  and  the  consequence  was  the 
entire  denudation  of  all  the  accessible  portions  of 
the  country  of  trees,  which  were  ruthlessly  cut  by 
the  people  for  fuel,  or  by  Government  officials  for 
their  own  or  State  purposes  ; and  forests,  worthy 
of  the  name,  now  only  exist  in  the  mountainous 
districts  of  the  north  and  on  some  of  the  islands,  or 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY 


371 


around  the  Imperial  tombs.  It  was  not  until  ^he 
Japanese  obtained  full  administrative  control  that  any 
remedy  was  attempted  for  these  abuses,  but  a forest 
law  has  since  been  passed  which  will  effectually  pre- 
vent them  in  the  future,  and  forest  schools  and 
nurseries  have  been  established  in  the  most  suitable 
districts.  The  afforestation  of  State  land  has  been 
encouraged  by  what  is  called  the  “ Percentage 
Forests  ” system,  a system — previously  most  success- 
fully tried  in  Northern  Japan — under  which  the 
cultivator,  who  is  provided  with  seeds  and  saplings 
free  of  charge,  shares  the  profits  with  the  State  ; and, 
as  in  other  agricultural  industries,  he  is  being  taught 
scientific  methods  of  culture,  both  in  theory  and 
practice,  in  the  nurseries  and  schools. 

vWhen  the  education  that  is  now  being  given  to  the 
farmer  has  done  its  work,  and  the  improved  methods 
that  have  been  already  adopted  by  a few  become 
universal  ; when  he  feels  assured  that  he  is  working 
for  his  own  benefit  and  that  his  rent  and  taxation 
are  defined  ; when  roads  are  opened  by  which  his 
products  can  be  cheaply  and  easily  conveyed  to 
market,  where  their  prices  will  be  fixed  by  himself 
and  not  by  officials  ; when  payment  for  them  is 
made  in  good  sound  money  and  not  in  a debased 
currency  of  which  the  intrinsic  value  was  nil  and 
the  circulating  value  could  not  be  gauged  from  day 
to  day  ; when  his  own  markets  are  supplemented  by 
those  of  foreign  countries  where  his  rice  and  beans 
will  find  ready  buyers — there  is  no  reason  to  believe 
that  the  Korean  farmer  will  not  develop  a new  spirit 
of  energy  which  will  bring  prosperity,  undreamt  of 
in  the  past,  to  the  industry  of  agriculture  throughout 
the  country.  The  realisation  of  all  these  contin- 
gencies is  now,  under  the  Japanese  administration, 
within  actual  view.  An  index  has  already  been  given 
of  what  the  peasant  can  do  under  the  conditions  of 


372 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


good  government.  There  has  been,  ever  since  Russia 
became  a close  neighbour,  a substantial  emigration 
of  Koreans  across  the  borders  into  the  Russian  terri- 
tory on  the  north-east  frontier,  though  the  emigrants, 
in  the  beginning,  had  to  leave  their  country  with  as 
much  secrecy  and  at  as  great  danger  as  those  under 
which  the  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  originally 
entered  it,  and  once  having  left  it  they  became  out- 
laws for  ever.  Just  as  the  Irish  peasant,  unenter- 
prising, thriftless,  and  poverty-stricken  in  his  own 
country,  became,  when  he  had  escaped  from  the 
clutches  of  his  grasping  landlord,  an  ambitious,  care- 
ful, and  prosperous  citizen  of  the  United  States,  so 
has  the  Korean,  freed  from  the  tyranny  and  robbery  of 
his  own  officials,  become  a prosperous  and  industrious 
settler  in  Russian  territory.  And  as  the  whole  aspect 
of  the  Irish  agricultural  industry  and  the  character  and 
circumstances  of  both  farmers  and  labourers  have 
changed  for  the  better  under  the  beneficent  legislation 
of  the  last  two  decades  of  British  history,  so  will  Korea 
and  the  Koreans  change  when  they  have  had  time 
to  experience  and  understand  the  just  and  honest 
Government,  the  security  of  liberty  and  property, 
which  Japan  will  give  them. 

There  is  ample  room  on  the  lands  that  have 
hitherto  lain  waste  and  profitless  for  Japanese 
settlers,  who  will  give  to  the  natives  the  stimulus  of 
competition  and  the  example  of  their  own  industrious 
and  effective  methods.  Only  one  cloud  rests  over 
the  future  of  the  natives  : iWill  they  be  submerged 
and  lost  in  an  overwhelming  torrent  of  Japanese 
immigrants,  who  come  as  conquerors,  determined  to 
exercise  the  prerogatives  of  conquerors  in  plunder 
and  confiscation?  Will  the  owners  and  tillers  be 
driven  from  the  fertile  low-lying  lands  on  which 
they  and  their  ancestors  have  lived  for  centuries, 
and  be  forced  to  find  new  homes  in  the  mountain 


WINNOWING. 

iFrom  Stertcftrof-h  Viuicnt  ood  & L' itd^ncood,  Lotuiou.) 


To  face  p.  372, 


p 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY 


373 


wilds  that  have  as  yet  never  known  the  spade?  Will 
it,  to  take  once  more  the  parallel  that  is  furnished 
by  Irish  history,  be  another  instance  of  “ To  Hell  or 
Connaught  ”?  In  one  respect  the  Japanese  have 
spared  the  Koreans — they  have  not  interfered  with 
their  religion.  In  others  they  have  rivalled 
the  Saxon  planters  of  Ireland  in  the  days  of 
Elizabeth  and  James.  Time  alone  will  show  whether 
their  Government  will  wipe  out  the  record  of  the 
past  by  the  firm  control  of  their  own  people  in  the 
future  and  by  the  protection  which  they  give  to  a 
gentle,  submissive,  and  peaceful  people,  who  are  in- 
capable of  defending  themselves. 

Korea  had,  long  before  it  was  opened  to  the  world, 
a reputation  for  its  mineral  wealth.  It  was  to  a 
considerable  degree  a case  of  omne  ignotum  pro 
magnifico,  but  it  had  some  foundation  in  the  gold 
which  was  annually  brought  to  China  as  tribute  or 
bartered  at  the  frontier  markets.  It  has  been  told 
in  a previous  chapter  how  the  rumour  spread  among 
Europeans  in  China  that  Korean  kings  were  buried 
in  coffins  of  solid  gold.  From  that  fable,  as  well  as 
from  the  great  quantity  which  tradition,  almost 
equally  fabulous,  recorded  as  having  formed  part 
of  the  plunder  of  Hideyoshi’s  soldiers,  and  from  the 
established  fact  of  its  export  to  China,  it  came  to 
be  accepted  as  a truism  that  the  closed  country  would 
when  opened  prove  a new  Eldorado.  Gold  does  exist 
in  Korea  in  quantities  to  render  its  mining  com- 
mercially profitable,  but  it  has  as  yet  given  no 
promise  of  ever  sensibly  affecting  the  world’s  supply. 
Iron,  coal,  graphite,  silver,  and  copper  are  also  found, 
but  as  yet  they  have  not  been  sufficiently  exploited 
to  justify  any  estimate  being  formed  as  to  their 
future  influence  on  the  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the 
country.  Under  their  own  laws  the  people  were 
forbidden  to  engage  in  mining  operations,  and  the 


374 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


only  concession  that  was  made  was  that  which  per- 
mitted of  placer  mining  being  carried  on  in  small 
areas  by  very  limited  associations,  in  the  most 
primitive  manner.  For  this  heavy  fees  had  to  be 
paid  to  the  Government  ; and  as  the  fees  were  cer- 
tain, while  the  product  was  very  much  the  reverse, 
the  industry  was  not  one  which  attracted  either 
capitalists  or  prospectors  of  good  repute. 

Until  1906  the  legal  prohibition  against  mining 
applied  to  foreigners  as  well  as  natives.  But  it  was 
repeatedly  set  aside  by  the  Court  in  favour  of 
foreigners,  and  concessions  were  granted  in  the  most 
haphazard  manner  of  mining  rights  in  large  areas 
to  whomsoever  could  gain  the  goodwill  of  the  King 
and  offer  him  the  most  alluring  terms.  British, 

Americans,  French,  Italians,  and  Japanese  were 
among  the  concessionaires,  and  all  have  since  more 
or  less  exploited  their  respective  areas.  The  most 
important  results  have  been  achieved  by  the 
Americans,  in  their  mine  at  Unsan,  in  the  north  of  the 
province  of  Phyong  An,  which  is  worked,  under  a 
concession  granted  by  the  King  in  1896,  by  a syndi- 
cate entitled  the  “ Oriental  Consolidated  Mining 
Company,”  with  a capital  of  one  million  sterling. 
The  value  of  its  aggregate  output,  until  the  close  of 
June,  1908,  was  £2,146,231,  and  its  average  annual 
yield  is  now  valued  at  £250,000. 

In  1906  a new  mining  law  was  passed  which  threw 
the  industry,  under  defined  conditions,  open  to  both 
foreigners  and  Koreans,  and  over  five  hundred 
licences  were  issued  for  specified  areas  within  the 
three  following  years.  The  annual  value  of  the  gold 
that  is  exported  to  foreign  countries,  according  to 
Customs  returns,  exceeds  £500,000,  but  it  is  acknow- 
ledged that  a considerable  quantity  goes  abroad  with- 
out having  first  undergone  the  formality  of  being 
submitted  to  the  cognisance  of  the  Customs  officials. 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY 


375 


It  is  the  only  mining  product  as  yet  exported  to  a 
substantial  value. 

Manufacturing  industries  in  Korea  might  without 
very  great  exaggeration  be  compared  to  snakes  in 
Ireland.  If  it  is  absurd  to  say  “ there  are  none,” 
they  are  insignificant  when  compared  with  what 
might  be  achieved  by  a people  with  mental  and 
physical  capacities  of  high  order,  and  they  are  con- 
ducted under  such  primitive  methods  that  only  the 
most  meagre  results  are  attained.  They  are  all 
cottage  industries,  carried  on  in  individual  house- 
holds, without  either  organisation  or  co-operation 
of  labour.  Art  and  manufacturing  industry  were 
destroyed  by  the  Japanese  in  Hideyoshi’s  invasion  : 
artists  and  workmen  were  carried  as  prisoners  to 
Japan  and  their  artistic  and  technical  skill  were  lost 
to  Korea,  and  she  has  never  recovered  either.  Speci- 
mens of  Korean  workmanship  that  still  exist  in  Japan, 
examples  of  which  are  the  great  bronze  lantern  and 
gates  at  the  tomb  of  lyeyasu  in  Nikko,  and  some  of 
the  very  few  relics  that  still  survive  in  Korea  are 
evidence  of  what  her  artists  and  workmen  could  do 
in  the  past,  but  is  beyond  their  skill  at  the  present 
day.  Their  best  efforts  are  now  seen  in  iron  caskets, 
gracefully  inlaid  with  silver  ; in  brasswork  that 
is  equally  graceful  in  shape,  but  unadorned  ; in 
matting  of  exquisitely  fine  texture  and  artistic 
patterns  ; in  the  wooden  money-chests  with  their 
many  locks,  bars,  and  handles,  all  beautifully  wrought 
in  brass,  specimens  of  which  can  now  be  seen  as 
articles  of  furniture  in  many  English  households. 
All  these  are  pretty  and  attractive,  but  they  cannot 
be  called  sources  of  national  wealth.  Only  two 
manufactures  can  be  mentioned  as  attaining  that 
dignity — paper  and  ginseng,  and  the  latter  ought 
perhaps  to  be  called  an  agricultural  rather  than  a 
manufacturing  product.  Both  were  among  the  most 


376 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


valued  items  that  were  included  in  the  tribute  that 
was  annually  rendered  to  China  and  Japan  in  former 
days. 

The  paper  of  Korea  is  unique,  both  in  its  quality 
and  the  uses  to  which  it  is  applied,  and  it  has  always 
been  highly  appreciated  both  in  China  and  Japan, 
though  both  countries  possess  prosperous  paper 
industries  of  their  own,  the  products  of  which  are 
excellent  and  varied.  The  finest  quality  is  made 
from  the  inner  bark  of  the  mulberry  ; other  qualities 
are  made  from  rags  and  old  paper,  some  even 
from  cotton  and  hemp  fibre.  Its  most  remarkable 
characteristics  are  its  toughness  and  durability.  It 
is  used,  apart  from  the  ordinary  purposes  to  which 
paper  is  applied  in  the  West,  for  floor  coverings,  and 
as  the  material  for  travelling  trunks,  for  waterproof 
clothing,  and  when  rifles  were  unknown  it  was  also 
used  for  armour,  its  thickness  and  toughness  being 
quite  sufficient  to  resist  an  arrow  or  matchlock  bullet. 

Ginseng — the  root  of  the  Panax  ginseng,  a 
perennial  plant  of  the  order  of  Araliaceae — is  the  most 
highly  valued  drug  in  the  Pharmacopoeia  of  China, 
especially  for  its  prophylactic  and  stimulating  pro- 
perties, and  as  Korea  has  always  been  the  home  of 
the  finest  quality  that  is  known,  whether  of  the  wild 
or  cultivated  plant,  it  has  ever  been  one  of  the  chief 
items  in  her  exports.  The  most  valuable  roots  are 
those  of  the  wild  plant,  but  it  is  so  rare  and  so 
difficult  to  find  that  the  cultivated  variety  is  relied 
on  for  the  chief  supply,  and  the  industry  both  of 
growing  and  of  manufacturing  the  plant  for  use  was 
carefully  fostered  by  the  Government,  in  the  interests 
of  its  own  revenue.  In  the  same  interests  it  was 
converted  into  a Government  monopoly  under  the 
Japanese  protectorate,  the  Japanese  in  doing  so 
following  the  precedent  which  they  had  previously 
made  for  themselves  in  the  case  of  camphor  in 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY 


377 


Formosa.  Ginseng  is  grown  throughout  all  Korea, 
but  the  principal  seats  of  its  production  are  in  the 
west-central  provinces  of  Hoang-Hai  and  Kyong- 
Kwi.  In  its  natural  condition  the  root,  with  its  forked 
extremities,  bears  a ludicrous  resemblance  to  the 
human  body,  and  the  most  valued  specimens,  which 
fetch  their  own  weight  in  pure  gold  in  China,  are 
those  which  are  of  the  largest  size,  and  in  which  this 
resemblance  is  closest.  The  plant  requires  seven 
years  from  the  time  at  which  the  seed  is  sown  in 
ground  specially  prepared  for  it  till  it  arrives  at 
maturity.  During  these  years  it  has  to  be  twice 
transplanted,  and  all  the  time  carefully  tended  and 
sheltered  from  wind,  sun,  and  rain.  Another  seven 
years  must  be  allowed  to  lapse  before  the  ground 
in  which  it  was  grown  can  be  again  used  for  the 
same  purpose. 

When  gathered  it  is  in  the  form  known  as  white 
ginseng,  and  then  a long  manufacturing  process  of 
steam  heating  and  artificial  drying  has  to  be  gone 
through  before  it  is  converted  into  its  more  valuable 
form  of  red  ginseng  in  which  it  is  exported.  In  its 
final  appearance  it  is  hard,  brittle,  translucent,  amber- 
like in  colour,  and  varies  in  length  from  two  to  four 
inches.  In  China  it  is  so  highly  valued,  that  when 
a small  quantity  is  sent  as  a present,  it  is  usual  to 
add  a silver  kettle,  in  which  it  may  be  properly 
served,  as  an  insignificant  adjunct  to  the  real  gift. 
Its  commercial  value  may  be  assumed  from  the  fact 
that,  though  it  is  produced  and  sold  under  the  most 
stringent  limitations,  the  official  revenue  derived  from 
it  amounts  to  an  annual  average  of  more  than 
1,400,000  yen.  It  is  anticipated  by  the  Japanese  that, 
when  its  culture  is  more  scientifically  carried  out 
under  expert  official  supervision,  it  will  become  one 
of  the  most  important  sources  of  the  entire  revenue 
of  their  new  dominion. 


378 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


Apart  from  gold  and  ginseng,  the  principal  exports 
from  Korea  are  rice,  beans  and  peas,  hides,  cattle, 
raw  cotton,  timber,  wheat,  all  agricultural  products. 
Paper,  mats,  yams,  textiles,  and  curios  are  the  only 
manufactured  articles  that  appear  to  deserve  specific 
mention  in  the  Customs  returns,  though  they  are  com- 
piled with  such  minuteness  as  to  record  the  export  of 
individual  articles  of  a value  of  only  £30,000.  That 
the  export  trade  has  made  considerable  progress  is 
shown  by  the  following  figures  of  its  values  in  the 
last  thirteen  years  for  which  figures  are  available. 
The  falling  off  in  1908  was  owing  to  a diminished 
export  of  cereals,  tTiat  arose  from  two  causes — the 
first,  the  difficulties  of  internal  transport  owing  to 
the  disorganisation  caused  by  insurgents  in  Korea, 
and  the  second,  the  prevalence  of  unusually  low  prices 
in  Japan. 


Year. 

189s 

1901 

1907 

1908 


Exports. 


Value. 

...  24^000 

...  837,000 

...  1,648,000 
...  1,413,000 


I 

' g 


Korea  imports  much  more  than  she  sends  away, 
the  deficiency  being  paid  for  with  the  money  brought 
into  the  country  by  the  Japanese  and  spent  on  the 
civil  and  military  services  and  on  the  development  of 
public  works,  and  by  European  residents,  especially 
missionaries,  and  possibly  also  to  a not  inconsider- 
able extent  by  gold  that  is  not  included  in  the 
Customs  returns  of  exports.  Taking  the  figures  for 
the  same  years  as  those  which  have  been  given  in 
the  case  of  the  exports,  the  values  are  as  follows  : 


Year. 

1895  ... 
1901  ... 

1907  ... 

1908  ... 


Imports. 


Value. 

„ £ 

...  809,000 

...  1,500,000 
...  4,138,000 
...  4,102,000 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY 


379 


The  principal  articles  which  contributed  to  these 
aggregate  values  were  yarns,  cotton  piece  goods, 
metals  and  metal  manufactures,  including  machinery, 
and  kerosene  oil.  From  the  first,  whatever  may 
have  been  the  conservatism  of  the  Koreans  in  main- 
taining their  national  isolation,  they  showed  none  in 
acquiring  and  using  such  European  productions  as 
they  could  obtain.  It  has  been  told  in  a previous 
chapter  they  once  slaughtered  the  crews  of  two 
Chinese  junks  which  they  found  near  their  shores, 
merely  because  they  had  some  European  piece  goods 
among  their  cargoes.  That  was  at  the  worst  period 
of  their  murderous  fanaticism  against  Christianity 
and  Europeans,  but  even  during  the  continuance  of 
their  most  rigid  isolation  they  showed  no  aversion 
to  purchasing  such  European  productions  as  they 
could  obtain  at  the  border  fairs,  and  when  trade 
became  free  they  eagerly  bought  according  to  their 
means.  In  1880  the  whole  value  of  the  imports 
was  only  £86,000.  A trade  cannot  be  held  un- 
promising for  the  future  which,  in  less  than  thirty 
years,  has  grown  in  value  from  £86,000  to  over 
£4,000,000 — an  increase  which,  making  due  allow- 
ance for  the  difference  in  the  size  of  the  populations 
of  the  two  countries,  not  unfavourably  compares  with 
that  which  Japan  showed  after  the  lapse  of  a similar 
period  from  the  beginning  of  her  own  foreign 
relations. 

Great  Britain’s  share  in  this  trade  in  1908  repre- 
sented 16^  per  cent,  of  the  total,  its  value  being 
£678,000.  It  was  made  up  almost  entirely  of  cotton 
piece  goods  ; and  there  were  no  limits  to  the 
possibilities  of  the  further  growth  of  this  import 
among  a jx>pulation  of  ten  million  people,  who 
are  universally  clothed  in  cotton,  who  have  shown 
a steadily  increasing  appreciation  of  the  output  of 
Manchester  looms  ever  since  the  opportunity  of 


380 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


purchasing  it  was  first  afiforded  to  them.  But  Japan 
aspires  no  less  at  the  commercial  than  she  does  at 
the  military  hegemony  of  the  Far  East,  and  she  is 
determined  to  push  herself  into  the  very  front  rank 
of  commercial  just  as  she  has  already  done  into  that 
of  military  powers.  Her  political  friendship  for  Great 
Britain  does  not  (nor  should  it)  prevent  her  being 
our  greatest  commercial  rival,  and  it  would  be  the 
merest  affectation  to  say  that  the  Japanese  will  not 
take  advantage,  not  only  of  their  political  influence  in 
Korea,  but  of  the  geographical  facilities  which  their 
new  conterminity  with  Manchuria  gives  them  to  secure 
the  monopoly  of  supplying  from  their  own  factories 
all  the  wants,  not  only  of  Korea  but  of  Manchuria. 
It  is  true  that  a fair  field  will  be  given  for  the  fight 
for  ten  years  to  come.  All  imports  from  Great 
Britain  will,  for  that  period,  be  liable  only  to  the 
duties  that  are  provided  in  the  conventional  tariffs 
concluded  with  Western  powers  by  Korea  in  the 
days  of  her  independence,  and  imports  from  Japan 
will,  also  for  the  same  period,  continue  to  be  subject 
to  the  same  conventional  duties.  British  and 
Japanese  manufacturers  will  therefore  continue  to 
compete  on  equal  terms,  but  when  ten  years,  a very 
short  period  in  the  life  of  nations,  have  lapsed,  the 
old  tariffs  will  come  to  an  end.  Japanese  manu- 
factures must  then  enjoy  free  ingress  to  an  integral 
part  of  the  Japanese  Empire,  but  all  those  from  the 
West  will  become  subject  to  the  tender  mercies 
which  Japan  has  recently  displayed  towards  imports 
to  her  own  islands,  when,  for  the  first  time  in  her 
modem  history,  she  recovered  complete  and  unre- 
stricted tariff  autonomy.  Competition  under  such 
terms  will  be  impossible,  and  the  Manchester  weaver 
must  now  anticipate  the  absolute  closing  of  the 
Korean  market  to  his  looms  and  a competition  in 
that  of  Manchuria  in  which  he  \\dll  be  so  hea\dly 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY 


381 


handicapped  that  his  final  ousting  is  as  sure  as  the 
rising  of  the  sun.* 

The  annexation  of  Korea  passed  almost  unnoticed 
in  England,  though  both  from  the  sentimental  and 
material  aspects  it  well  merited  attention.  Few 
persons  are  so  insensate  as  not  to  feel  some  sympathy 
in  the  downfall  of  a nation  that  claims  to  have  had 
an  historical  existence  from  the  days  when  Babylon 
was  still  in  all  its  glory  and  grandeur,  or  in  the 
subjection  of  a people  who,  whatever  have  been  the 
faults  of  their  Government  and  the  reaction  of  those 
faults  on  themselves,  possess  many  attractive  quali- 
ties, who  are  kind,  hospitable,  gentle,  generous,  and 
good-tempered,  dignified  in  their  outward  demeanour, 
and  utterly  unworldly,  to  an  alien  nation  of  different 
race,  language,  and  traditions  that  has  been  their  re- 
lentless enemy  from  time  immemorial,  at  whose 
hands  they  have  on  many  occasions  experienced  all 
the  miseries  of  war,  and  in  more  recent  days, 
in  the  time  of  peace,  tyranny  and  spoliation, 
the  memory  of  which  can  only  be  erased  by 
decades,  perhaps  even  centuries,  of  good  and  merciful 
government.  But  no  word  of  sympathy  with  the 
ancient  royal  house  of  Korea  was  uttered  in  the 
English  Press  or  by  English  statesmen;  ^ no  comment 
was  made  on  the  influence  which  its  downfall  was 

' In  the  year  1909,  the  value  of  the  Import  Trade  of  Korea,  as 
compared  with  1908,  decrcased.to  ;^3,74i,ooo,  owing  to  the  falling  of 
the  import  of  railway  materials,  military  and  other  requisites  for 
the  Japanese  Government,  the  low  price  of  rice  and  other  causes. 
The  decrease,  however,  in  the  value  of  the  imports  from  the  United 
Kingdom,  cotton  manufactures,  cutlery,  etc.,  nearly  all  consumed  by 
the  people,  as  distinct  from  the  Government,  was  only  ^^14,000,  or 
less  than  4%  of  the  total  decrease. 

® As  far  as  the  memory  of  the  writer  goes,  not  even  a question  was 
asked  in  Parliament,  and  the  Times  was  the  only  journal  which  dealt 
with  the  matter  in  a leading  article. 


382 


THE  STORY  OF  KOREA 


likely  to  exercise  on  the  balance  of  military  and 
commercial  power  in  the  Far  East. 

Japan  is  now  closely  associated  with  Great  Britain 
by  the  defensive  alliance  between  the  two  nations,  and 
all  the  present  political  interests  of  Japan,  all  the 
publicly  expressed  wishes  of  her  statesmen,  press, 
and  people,  show  that  it  is  their  desire  to  continue 
and  intensify  that  alliance,  and  that  they  are  willing 
for  its  sake,  to  make  great  monetary  sacrifices  in 
order  to  still  further  develop  their  fighting  strength 
both  on  sea  and  land.  We  can  therefore  afford  to 
contemplate  with  unruffled  equanimity,  even  with 
satisfaction,  the  immense  addition  which  has  been 
made  to  Japan’s  military  strength  by  the  acquisition 
of  some  of  the  finest  harbours  in  the  world,  of  the 
complete  control  of  the  northern  seas  of  China,  and  by 
the  incorporation  among  her  own  citizens  of  a people 
whose  manhood  is  capable  of  being  converted,  as 
their  past  history  shows,  into  brave  and  eiflcient 
soldiers.  Some  English  writers  who  have  witnessed 
the  unresisting  submissiveness  of  the  stalwart 
Koreans  to  Japanese  bullies  have  represented  them 
as  natural  cowards.  It  is  true  that  the  spirit  of 
slavery  has  entered  into  their  souls,  but  the 
descendants  of  the  men  who,  ill  armed,  ill  drilled, 
and  ill  fed,  faced  the  veterans  of  Hideyoshi,  of  those 
who,  in  recent  years,  armed  with  only  matchlocks, 
faced  with  equal  courage  French  and  United  States 
rifles  and  artillery,  cannot,  notwithstanding  all  their 
moral  degradation,  be  altogether  destitute  of  military 
courage.  English  conquerors  and  French  critics  in 
the  time  of  William  III.,  in  the  worst  period  of  British 
oppression  and  tyranny,  described  the  Irish  soldiers 
as  poltroons  with  the  courage  of  sheep.  Subsequent 
history  gave  a very  different  view  of  them  to  both 
conquerors  and  critics.  As  it  has  been  with  the 
Irish  so  it  may  be  with  the  Koreans,  and  the  time 


TRADE  AND  INDUSTRY 


383 


may  come  when  the  Japanese  soldier  will  look  upon 
his  Korean  fellow-subject  of  the  Emperor  as  his 
worthy  partner  in  the  ranks. 

It  would  have  been  hypocritical  for  the  British 
people  who,  when  the  spirit  of  material  aggrandise- 
ment prompted  them,  ruthlessly  ended  the  ancient 
kingdoms  of  India,  from  the  Indus  to  the  Irawaddy, 
to  condemn  our  allies,  for  taking  a step  which 
all  Japanese  think  is  essential  to  the  future 
prosp>erity  and  safety  of  their  own  Empire,  which 
many  honestly  believe  will  be  productive  of  nothing 
but  good  to  the  mass  of  the  Korean  people,  and  which 
their  dearly  bought  victories  in  war  give  them  both 
the  power  and  right  to  carry  to  its  end.  But  our 
commercial  interests  might  well  have  prompted  us 
to  give  to  Japan  a gentle  reminder  of  the  obligation 
implied  in  the  treaty  of  1905,  and  to  suggest  that 
a guarantee  should  be  given  for  a fair  field  for  our 
trade  in  the  future.  As  it  was,  Korea  fell,  unnoticed 
and  uncared  for.  The  fall  was  infinitely  pathetic. 
Let  us  hope  it  will  be  redeemed,  as  the  writer  believes 
it  will,  by  the  future  happiness  and  welfare  of  the 
people. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


LIST  OF  WORKS,  RELATING  TO  KOREA,  WHICH  HAVE 
BEEN  CONSULTED  IN  THE  PREPARATION  OF 
THIS  VOLUME. 


History  of  the  Church  in  Japan 
Pinkerton’s  Voyages,  vol.  vii. 
Travels  of  some  Dutchmen  in 

Crasset 

London 

1707 

Japan  

(Narrative  of  an  unlucky  voyage 
and  imprisonment  in  Korea.) 

Henry  Hamel 

London 

1811 

Voyages  to  the  Eastern  Seas... 
Histoire  du  Christianisme  au 

Captain  Basil 
Hall,  R.N. 

London 

1827 

Japon  

Narrative  of  the  Voyage  of 

Charlevoix 

Paris 

1828 

H.M .S.  Sawnrawg  

Captain  Belcher, 
R.N. 

London 

CO 

00 

Histoire  de  I’Eglisede  Coree... 
Der  Fcldzug  der  Japanir  gegen 
Korea  im  Jahre  1597  by  Okoji 

Dallet 

Paris 

1874 

Hidemoto  

Pfizmaier 

Vienna 

1875 

China  

F.von  Richthofen  Berlin 

1877 

Japan  and  Korea  

Korea — Its  History,  Manners, 

E.  H.  House 

Tokio 

1877 

and  Customs 

Ross 

Paisley 

1880 

A Forbidden  Land  

Oppert 

London 

1880 

Diary  of  Richard  Cox 

The  Sacred  Books  of  the  East, 

Hakluyt  Society 

London 

1882 

vol.  xiv 

Trade  between  Japan  and 

Max  Miillcr 

O.xford 

1882 

Korea 

Longford 

London 

1883 

The  Land  of  the  Morning  Calm 

Lowell 

25 

London 

1886 

385 

386 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Life  in  Korea 

Corea  and  the  Powers 

Life  and  Times  of  Hideyoshi... 

Journey  in  the  North  of  Korea 

in  1889  

Korea  and  the  Sacred  White 

Mountain  

Problems  of  the  Far  East 
Nihongi,  or  Chronicles  of  Japan 

Korean  Interviews  

Korea  and  her  Neighbours  ... 
La  Coree  jusqu’au  IX  siecle  ... 
Notes  sur  les  Etudes  Coreennes 
The  Voyage  of  John  Saris  to 

Japan 

Bibliographie  Coreenne 

The  Path  of  Empire 

Korea  

Japanese  Relations  with  Korea 
(article  in  the  Nineteenth 

Century)  

Un  Etablissement  Japonais  en 

Coree  

History  of  Japan  (vol.  ii.) 

La  Coree  

Pauvre  et  Douce  Coree 

The  Garden  of  Asia  

Koreans  at  Home  

Korea — The  Hermit  Nation 

(seventh  edition)  

The  History  of  Korea 

Uber  den  Einfluss  des  Sanskrits 
auf  das  Japanische  und 
Koreanische  Schriftssystem 
The  Japanese  in  Korea 
The  Tragedy  of  Korea 
The  Common  Origin  of  the 
Japanese  and  Korean  Lan- 
guages 

History  of  Japan  (vol.  i.) 

The  Cambridge  Modern  His- 
tory— Japan,  vol.  xii. 


Carles 

London 

1888 

Duncan 

Shanghai 

1889 

Denning 

Tokio 

1890 

C.  W.  Campbell 

London 

1891 

Cavendish 

London 

1894 

Curzon 

London 

1896 

Aston 

London 

1896 

Morse 

New  York 

1897 

Bishop 

London 

1898 

Courant 

Paris 

1898 

Courant 

Paris 

1899 

Hakluyt  Society 

London 

1900 

Courant 

Paris 

1911 

Lynch 

London 

1903 

Hamilton 

London 

1903 

Longford 

London 

1904 

Courant 

Paris 

1904 

Murdoch 

Kobe 

1907 

Courant 

Paris 

1904 

Ducrocq 

Paris 

1904 

Farrer 

London 

1904 

Ta3'lor 

London 

1904 

Griffis 

London 

1905 

Hulbert 

Seoul 

1905 

Kanazawa 

Tokio 

1907 

Hulbert 

Seoul 

1907 

Mackenzie 

London 

1908 

Kanazawa 

Tokio 

1910 

Murdoch 

Tokio 

1910 

Longford 

Cambridge 

1910 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 


387 


Korea — Diplomatic  and  Con- 

J  1890- 

( 1910 

sular  Reports 

Foreign  Office 

London 

The  Japan  Mail  (passim) 

Yoko- 

(  1870- 

hama 

( 1910 

Reports  of  the  various  Mission- 

ary Societies  engaged  in 
Korea 

1900-10 

JAPANESE 

PUBLICATIONS 

Chosen  Jijo  (Korean  Affairs)  ... 
Chosen  Kinkio  Kibun  (Reports 

Yenomoto  Muyo 

Tokio 

1882 

on  the  present  condition  of 
Korea)  

War  Office 

Tokio 

1882 

Sensen  Kokwa  Chosen  Ronshiu 

(The  Reasons  for  War  or 
Peace  with  Korea) 

Kirishima 

Tokio 

1882 

Reports  of  the  Japanese 
Residency-General  in  Korea  : 
The  Reorganisation  of  the 


Finances  of  Korea 

1906 

Reform  and  Progress  in 

Korea  

1908 

Reform  and  Progress  in 

Korea  

1909 

Recent  Progress  in  Korea 

1910 

The  Tenth  Financial  and 

Economic  Annual  of  Japan 

1910 

TRANSACTIONS  OF  THE  ASIATIC  SOCIETY 

OF  JAPAN 

The  Introduction  of  Tobacco  into 

Japan  

Satow 

Vol.  vi. 

The  Korean  Potters  in  Satsuma 

ft 

ft 

Hideyoshi’s  Invasion  of  Korea,  Part  I. 

Aston 

ft 

Proposed  Arrangement  of  Korean 

Alphabet  

ft 

Vol.  viii. 

Hideyoshi's  Invasion  of  Korea,  Part  II. 

ft 

Vol.  ix. 

» II  II  III. 

ft 

ft 

Kojiki  or  Records  of  Ancient  Matters 

Chamberlain 

Vol.  X. 

Early  History  of  Printing  in  Japan  ... 

Satow 

ft 

Further  Notes  on  Movable  Type  in 

Korea 

M 

ft 

388 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


Hideyoshi’s  Invasion  of  Korea, 


Part  IV 

Aston 

Vol.  xi. 

A Secret  Trip  in  the  Interior  of  Korea 
A Visit  to  the  West  Coast  and  Capital 

Kenny 

>1 

of  Korea  

Hall 

Notes  on  the  Capital  of  Korea 

Bonar 

ff 

The  Manchus 

Parker 

Vol.  xiv. 

Early  Japanese  History  

Aston 

f} 

Korean  Popular  Literature  

ff 

Vol.  xviii. 

Race  Struggles  in  Korea  

Parker 

}) 

Hi  no  maru  or  National  Flag  of  Japan 

Aston 

Vol.  xxiL 

The  On  mun — when  Invented 

» 

Vol.  xxiii. 

Chhoi  Chhung — a Korean  Marchen 

n 

Vol.  xxviiL 

KOREA 


Jfart'nh' 


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iiukloil 


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Ay-V 


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fftVhl./jfi 

^ I)  n 

Hi'iiiji  >«  ii 


■Itixrh 


ImjiAiial  I 

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Horren  /* 


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i B/’intiintplif 
Kl»r>Z'‘ 


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TSnSHlMjj 


lltLiJo' 

Sojn 


Otht.fU. 
O^t  tuhirhimn^ 


fLiiid^ 

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of  Greenwich 


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Raxl—^t  ttunrn  thus. 


INDEX 


Agriculture,  obstacles  to,  368 ; 

improved  by  Japanese,  370. 

Aichu,  town  of,  19 ; timber  in- 
dustry of,  19 ; besieged  by 
Chinese  77 ; barrier  town  be- 
tween Korea  and  China,  207 
Ainos,  97 

Alceste,  visits  Korea,  225 

Alexander  de  Govea,  Bishop  at 
Peking,  246 

Ancestor  worship,  249  ; forbidden 
by  missionaries,  250 
Animals,  domestic,  15  ; wild,  15 
Annexation  of  Korea,  381,  383. 
Antung,  port  of,  347 
Arch  of  Independence,  23 
Art  in  Korea,  375 
Asan,  town  of,  188;  Chinese  driven 
from,  333 

Aston,  Dr.,  66,  94,  97 
Aumaitre,  priest,  279 ; execution 
of,  284 

Baiii,  see  Pekehe. 

Basil  Hall,  Captain,  visits  coast  of 
Korea,  25 

Beaulieu,  Jesuit  priest  in  Korea, 
279 ; tortured  and  executed,  283 
Belcher,  Captain,  surveys  Quel- 
part,  226 

Bell,  the  city  bell  of  Seoul,  22 
Ben-han,  position  of,  62 
Berneux,  Simeon  Francis,  conse- 

S89 


crated  Bishop,  279 ; lands 
from  junk,  279 ; tortured  and 
executed,  283 
Birds  in  Korea,  17 
Bomb,  first  mention  of,  164 
Bretenieres,  Jesuit  priest  in  Korea, 
279 ; tortured  and  executed, 
283 

British  Legation  in  Japan,  attacks 
on,  307 

Bruguiere,  Barthelemy,  appointed 
Apostolic  Vicar  to  Korea,  261  ; 
journey  of,  to  Korean  borders, 
262  ; death  of,  263 
Buddha  and  Buddhism,  98-99, 
104,  133,  134 

Calais,  priest  in  Korea,  279 
Cathay,  derivation  of,  109 
Census,  366-7 

Cespedes,  Gregorio  de,  chaplain 
to  Hideyoshi’s  troops,  arrives  at 
Fusan, 217 

Chemulpo,  14 ; comparison  of, 
with  Yokohama  and  description 
of,  21,  22 

Chhung  Chyong,  meaning  of  name, 
18 ; harbours  of,  24,  314 ; in- 
vaded by  Hideyoshi,  187 
Chik-san,  battle  of,  187 
Chi-li,  province  of,  69 ; devastated, 
69 

Chin,  origin  of  name  of  China,  109 


390 


INDEX 


China-Japan  War,  first  step  to- 
wards, 332 

Chinampo,  port  of  Phyong  An,  20 
Chin  Ikei,  Chinese  Envoy,  172 ; 

received  by  Hideyoshi,  176 
Chinju,  assault  of,  164 ; Korean 
treasure  in,  177 ; taking  of,  177 
Chiuai,  Emperor  of  Japan,  91 
Cholla,  meaning  of  name,  18; 
harbours  of,  24 ; invaded  by 
Wang  Kien,  85 

Chosen,  first  use  of  name,  32 ; end 
of  kingdom  of,  56 ; name  of, 
resumed,  126 
Chow,  Emperor,  51 
Christians,  faith  of  early  Korean, 
248 ; treatment  and  sufferings 
of,  258,  260,  290  ; beg  for  priests, 
259 ; rank  of,  267 ; six  female, 
martyred,  268 ; increase  in 
numbers  of,  279  ; supposed  to 
cause  misfortune,  281  ; declared 
traitors,  289 ; number  of,  in 
Korea,  293 

Christianity,  introduction  of,  into 
Japan,  148  ; spread  of,  in  Korea, 
258 

Chung  Jong’s  good  reign,  134 
Church,  Roman  Catholic,  in  Korea, 
229 

Climate  of  Korea,  27,  28 
Cocoons,  370 

Cock,  heraldic  emblem,  345 
Cocks,  head  of  English  factory  in 
Japan, 197 

Confucianism  inculcates  worship 
of  ancestors,  249 

Conservative  party,  treatment  of, 
322 ; call  in  Chinese  troops, 

323 

Consuls,  Prussian  merchant,  234  ; 
in  Korea,  315 


Corfe,  Bishop,  337 
Cotton,  370 

“ Court,  Korean,”  scene  of  intrigue, 
212 

Crops  raised,  369 

Customs  service  established,  328 

Dagelet,  Island,  ii 
Daveluy,  Marie  Antoine  Nicholas, 
missionary  to  Korea,  273  ; travels 
in  small  boat  with  Ferreol,  276; 
torture  and  execution  of,  284 
Diamond  Mountains,  description 

of,  13 

Dictionary,  Korean,  291 
Diplomatic  representatives  in 
Korea,  315 

Dutch  in  Korea,  224,  225 

“ Easterners,”  political  party,  135 
East  India  Company  in  Japan, 
196 

Elders,  political  party,  136 
Embassy,  Korean,  to  Japan,  143 ; 
treatment  of,  145 ; return  to 
Korea,  145 ; to  Tokugawa  Sho- 
gun, 197 ; to  China,  207 ; to 
United  States,  360 
Emperors,  rival,  in  China,  68 
Examinations  in  Chinese  literature 
127 

Exports,  378 

Factory,  Japanese,  in  Fusan,  199 ; 

Dutch,  in  Deshima,  198 
Famine  in  Korea,  178 
Farming  implements,  369 
Febiger,  239 

Feron,  priest  in  Korea,  279 ; es- 
cape and  sufferings  of,  286 ; 
travels  to  Chefoo,  286  ; appeals 
to  Admiral  Roze,  286 


INDEX 


391 


Ferreol,  Jean  Joseph,  consecrated, 
Bishop,  273 ; travels  in  small 
boat  to  Korea,  276  ; describes 
boat,  276  ; death  of,  279 
Feudalism,  in  Korea,  abolished, 
127 

Fish,  abounds  in  Korea,  17  ; much 
caught  by  Japanese,  17 
Fishing,  Korean,  primitive,  17 
Forests,  370  ; percentage,  371 
French,  Government  letter  to 
Korea,  226  ; reply  to,  227,  228, 
229  ; threat  to  Korea,  230 ; fleet 
proceeds  to  River  Han,  235 ; 
result  of  attack  on  Kang  Wha, 
237,  240 

Fujiwara,  Japanese  noble  family, 
117 

Fung  Wang  Chang,  border  city, 
206 

Fusan,  harbour  of,  12  ; description 
of,  25  ; factory  at,  133,  198,  199 

Gate  of  Gratitude,  23 
General,  Chinese,  executed,  57 
General  Sherman,  U.  S.  ship,  lost, 
230,  232 

Gengliiz  Khan,  109 ; defeats  the 
Kins,  III  ; conquers  Korea,  iii 
Gensan,  opening  of,  to  trade,  26  ; 
birthplace  of  Taijo,  27  ; monas- 
tery of,  27  ; Russian  warship  at, 
281 

Genso,  Japanese  monk,  161 
Gesang,  training  of,  48 
Gloire  la,  French  frigate,  grounded, 
226  ; men  of,  rescued  by  Eng- 
lish, 226 

Gold  in  Korea,  232  ; annual  value 
of  export,  374 

Golden  age  of  Korean  morals,  133 
Goto  Islands,  234 


Graves,  disturbance  of,  brings  mis- 
fortune, 132  ; opened  by  King 
Yunsan,  132 

Great  Britain’s  trade  with  Korea, 
379,  381  ; rivalry  in  trade  with 
Japan,  380 

Guerilla  warfare  in  Korea,  163  ; 
affects  nerves  of  Japanese,  164 

Guillotine  devised,  290 

Hachiman,  God  of  War,  147 

Ha-in,  commoners  of  Korea,  32 

Hairdressing  of  men,  334 ; reform 
in,  causes  rebellion,  334 

Hall  of  the  Thousand  Mats,  de- 
struction of,  181 

Hamel,  shipwreck  of  209  ; escape 
of,  224  ; writes  earliest  descrip- 
tion of  Korea,  10 

Ham  Gyong,  province  of,  13 ; 
meaning  of,  18  ; description  of, 
26 

Han,  river,  14;  freezing  of,  27; 
French  frigate  at  entrance  to, 
226.  Han  ,Yang,  fortress  on 
the  Han,  125 

Han,  60 

Han  yang,  burnt,  119 

Heian-jo,  ancient  name  of  Kioto, 

125 

Hideyoshi,  regent  of  Japan,  140  ; 
low  birth  of,  141  ; sends  envoy 
to  Korea,  142 ; reception  of 
envoy  from,  142  ; insults  Korean 
ambassador,  144;  boastful  letter 
of,  144 ; Napoleon  of  Japan, 
145  ; character  of,  146 ; plans 
conquest  of  Korea,  147,  148 ; 
prepares  for  war,  151  ; receives 
Chinese  envoy,  176 ; frees 
Korean  princes,  176 ; orders 
taking  of  Chinju,  177;  duplicity 


392 


INDEX 


of,  i8o ; reception  of  Ambassa- 
dors by,  i8i  ; hall  of  audience, 
i8i ; investiture  of,  182  ; anger 
of,  184 ; refuses  to  receive 
Koreans,  184 ; again  prepares 
for  war,  184  ; withdraws  troops 
from  Korea,  190  ; failing  health 
of,  190 ; dying  words  of,  190 ; 
death  of,  190;  death  of  son  of,  194 
Hidctada,  son  of  lyeyasu,  196 
Hijo  Jung,  reforms  of,  209 
Hirado,  foreign  trade  of,  197 
History  of  Korea,  291 
“ Histoire  de  I’Eglise  de  Coree,” 

293 

Hiuga,  province  of,  28 
Hoang-hai,  meaning  of  name,  18  ; 
position  of  20 ; Konishi’s  march 
on,  158  ; U.  S.  steamer  wrecked 
at,  230 

Hoh  Su  Wen,  murders  King  of 
Korai,  75  ; appearance  of,  76 ; 
declares  war  on  Silla,  76  ; in- 
fluence of,  81  ; death  of,  81  ; 
sons  of,  81 

Hojo,  regents,  115  ; subjugated  by 
Hideyoshi,  143 
Hong  Kong,  cession  of,  273 
Huin,  priest  in  Korea,  279  ; execu- 
tion of,  284 

Hulbert,  “ History  of  Korea,’’  6t;, 
78,  165,  168 
Hunchun,  273 
Hung  Woo,  emperor,  120 
Hwang  Ti,  title  of,  no 
Hyong  Jong,  reforms  of,  209 

Iksan,  landing  of  Kijun  at,  62 
Imbert,  Laurent  Marie  Joseph, 
Vicar  Apostolic  in  Korea,  265  ; 
of  peasant  origin,  265  ; disguise 
used  by,  265 ; surrenders  to 


poUce,  270  : tortured,  270 ; body 
of,  reinterred  by  converts,  271 
Imna,  State  of,  64 
Imports  present  day,  210,  378, 
379 

Injin  river,  meeting  of  Japanese 
and  Koreans  on,  16 1 
Inouye,  Count,  in  China,  326  ; to 
reform  Korea,  333  ; opinions  in 
Nichi  Nichi  Shimbun,  337! 
Investiture,  patent  of,  of  Hide- 
yoshi, 182 

Ito,  Prince,in  Korea,  326;  Resident- 
General,  354 ; institutes  reforms, 
355  ; assassination  of,  357 
lyeyasu,  resembles  Wang  Kien, 
105;  requests  tribute  from  Korea, 
196 

Izaenagi,  89 

Japajj,  receives  teachers  and  mis- 
sionaries fromiKorea,  66  ; sends 
help  to  Pekche,  80 ; wholesale 
defeat  of,  by  Chinese  and  Sillan 
troops,  80 ; early  relations  of, 
with  Korea,  89,  91  ; friendship 
of,  with  Pekche,  97  ; contrasted 
with  Korea,  208 ; demands 
renewal  of  vassalage,  297  ; word 
of  Emperor  of,  law,  365 
Japanese,  make  peace  with  China, 
175 ; evacuate  Seoul,  175 ; en- 
trench themselves  at  Fusan, 
188;  retreat  from  Seoul,  188; 
sack  Kyunju,  188;  nostalgia,  191; 
ships  destroyed,  19 1 ; carry  art 
treasures  from  Korea,  also  artists 
and  artisans,  192  ; at  Fusan, 
199 ; proposals  to  Korea,  301 ; 
expedition  to  Kang-Wha,  302  ; 
conclude  treaty  with  Korea, 
302  ; clauses  in  treaty  made  by, 


INDEX 


393 


303  ; murders  of,  in  Korea,  309  ; 
Legation  burnt,  309 ; leave 
Seoul,  310  ; demand  indemnity, 
31 1 ; in  Seoul  join  conspiracy, 
323  ; escape  to  Chemulpo,  326  ; 
lose  influence  in  Korea,  327 ; 
adventurers  flock  to  Korea,  335; 
power  in  Korea,  360 ; love  of 
their  Emperor,  364 
Jesuits  first  arrive  in  Korea,  9; 
priest  in  Korea,  217  ; in  Peking, 
244 ; confer  with  Korean  am- 
bassadors, 245 

Jingo,  Empress  of  Japan,  invades 
Korea,  91  ; miraculous  voyage 
of,  92 ; terms  of  treaty  with 
King  of  Silla,  92  ; staff  and  spear 
of,  93  ; son  of,  147 
Joano,  Roman  Catholic  priest, 
279 

Juniors,  political  party,  136 

Kaempfer,  Dutch  historian,  242 
Kagoshima,  240 
Kamakura,  117 

Kang  Wha,  city  and  island  of, 
described,  23  ; attacked  by 
foreigners,  24 ; treaty  signed  at, 
24 ; seat  of  Episcopal  Mission 
to  Korea,  24 ; taken  by  Man- 
chus,  293  ; royal  library  of,  236  ; 
taken  and  burnt  by  French, 
227  ; Christian  Church  in,  293 
Kang  won,  province  of,  14  ; mean- 
ing of  name,  18  ; description  of, 
26  ; invaded  by  Kung  I,  85 
Kao,  forms  kingdom  of  Kao  Kaoli, 
59  ; extent  of  kingdom  of,  60 
Kaoli,  see  Korai,  57. 

Kara,  kingdom  of,  sends  am- 
bassadors to  Japan, 90  ; Japanese 
name  for,  90 


Karak,  kingdom  of,  63  ; absorbed 
by  Silla,  64 

Kato  Kiyomasa,  General,  150 ; 
parentage  of,  150  ; hatred  of,  to 
Christianity,  151 ; marches  into 
Ham  Gyong,ii59  ; takes  Korean 
princes  prisoner,  174 
Keirin,  meaning  of,  345 
Keswick,  Mrs.,  in  Korea,  317 
Khitan  tribe,  take  possession  of 
Manchuria  and  Liaotung,  108  ; 
demands  homage  from  Korea, 
no  ; Sunto  burnt  by,  no  ; give 
derivation  to  Cathay,  108 
Khordadbeh  describes  Korea,  9 
Kim  ok  Kiun  escapes  from  Korea 
and  joins  Progressionists,  329  ; 
escapes  to  Japan,  329  ; family  of, 
executed,  329 ; deported  by 
Japanese  to  Bonin  Islands,  330  ; 
deported  to  Hakodate,  330  ; shot 
in  Shanghai,  331 ; body  of,  sent 
to  Korea,  331  ; body  of,  dis- 
honoured, 331 

Kim,  Andrew,  fearless  Christian, 
274 ; voyage  of,  to  Shanghai, 
274 ; arrives  at  Wosung,  275 ; 
appeals  to  British  officers  and 
is  helped  by  them,  275 ; or- 
dained first  Korean-born  priest, 
276  ; martyrdom  of,  277 
King  of  Korea,  sacredness  of 
person  of,  38,  39  ; prerogatives 
of,  39  ; flies  to  Kang  Wha,  202  ; 
submits  to  Manchus,  204  ; last, 
214  ; body  of,  said  to  be  buried 
in  gold  coffer,  232  ; in  hands 
of  the  Progressionists,  322  ; 
sufferings  of,  341  ; escapes  to 
the  Russian  Legation,  342 ; 
assumes  title  of  Emperor,  342 
Ki  Tse,  first  mention  of,  50  ; founds 


394 


INDEX 


Chosen,  51 ; improves  country 
and  introduces  civilisation,  52  ; 
eight  laws  of,  52  ; descendant 
flies  from  capital,  53  ; name  re- 
stored to  kingdom  by  Taijo,  125 

Kiusiu,  province  of^  ii,  91  ; Mon- 
gol Embassy  lands  in,  117 

Konchi,  island  of,  167 

Konishi  Yukinaga,  General,  150  ; 
early  years,  150  ; enters  Seoul, 
157 ; marches  on  Phyong  An, 
160 ; fights  against  Kato,  193  ; 
execution  of,  194 

Korai  or  Kaoli,  State  of,  57  ; origin 
of  name,  60  ; struggle  of,  with 
China,  68  ; invaded  by  China, 
70,  71 ; again  invaded  by  China, 
76  ; doom  of,  prophesied,  82  ; 
people  of,  83  ; change  of  name 
of,  125 

Korea,  geographical  position  of, 
9,  1 1 ; visited  by  European  men- 
of-war,  10  ; area  and  boundaries 
of,  1 1 ; Straits  of,  1 1 ; islands  of, 
II  ; coasts  of,  13  ; mountains 
of,  14  ; meat-eating  nation,  15  ; 
earliest  history  of,  50 ; high 
civilisation  of,  65 ; Hulbert’s 
History  of,  65  ; ruled  by  Silla, 
84 ; degradation  of  Court  of, 
12 1 ; decline  of,  139  ; eflfect  of 
war  on,  194 ; assists  Mings 
against  Manchus,  202  ; invaded 
by  Manchus,  203  ; treaty  of, 
with  Manchus,  203 ; greater 
isolation  of,  205 ; sends  insult- 
ing letters  to  Japan,  241,  297, 
299 ; poverty  of,  305  ; houses  of, 
305  ; prospects  of  trade  in,  306  ; 
embassy  to  Japan  in  1882,  314  ; 
climate  and  cultivation,  370 

Koreans,  resemblance  of,  to 


Bretons,  30 ; seclusion  of,  30 ; 
courage  of,  40  ; hatred  of,  for 
foreigners,  282  ; send  embassy 
to  Tokio,  306 ; study  in  Japan, 
313  ; suffer  from  Japanese 
roughs,  336 

Korietz,  gunboat,  sunk,  21 
Kotei,  title  of,  304 
Kouen  I,  renamed  Francois 
Xavier,  embraces  Christianity, 
247 

Kudara,  joins  Pekche  and  declares 
war  on  Silla,  77  ; resists  Silla,  81 
Kumaso,  invade  Korea,  96 
Kuroda,  Lord  of  Hizen,  158 
Kung  I proclaims  himself  King  of 
Silla,  85 ; proclaims  himself 
Buddhist  Messiah,  86  ; murders 
wife  and  sons,  87  ; death  of,  87 
Kwisun  or  tortoise-boat,  described, 
168 

Kyong-Kwi,  meaning  of  name, 
18  ; wealth  of,  20 ; invaded  by 
Kung  I,  85 

Kyong-syang,  province  of,  18  ; 
meaning  of  name,  18  ; historical 
interest  of,  25 

Kyunju,  capital  of  Silla,  25  ; splen- 
dour of,  84 ; sack  of,  by  Hide- 
yoshi’s  troops,  84,  154,  188 ; 
retaken  by  Koreans,  164 
Kyun  Wun  rebels  against  SiUa,  86  ; 
struggle  of,  with  Wang  Kien, 
87 ; defeated  and  surrenders 
to  Wang  Kien,  87 

Lakes  of  Korea,  15 
Landre,  Roman  Catholic  priest, 
279 

Language  of  Korea  allied  with 
Japanese,  30 
Lazareff,  Port,  12 


INDEX 


395 


Legation,  Japanese,  in  Korea,  at- 
tacked and  burnt,  309  ; again 
attacked  and  burnt,  323,  324 ; 
staff  of,  recalled,  341 
Li  Hung  Chang,  307 ; sends 
troops  to  Korea,  312,  313 
Liao  river,  70  ; battle  on  banks  of, 

71 

Liao  Tung,  attacked  by  Yu  Ku, 
54 ; attempted  conquest  of,  by 
Emperor  Yang,  73 
Liao  Yang,  siege  of,  by  Chinese, 

72  ; description  of  siege  of,  74  ; 
seat  of  learning  visited  by 
Japanese,  103 

Lyra,  visits  Korea,  225 

Mahan,  171 

Ma-han,  position  of,  62  ; descrip- 
tion of  inhabitants  of,  62 
Maistre,  Pere,  tries  to  reach  Korea, 
277  ; lands  in  Korea,  278  ; death 
of,  279 

Manchu  tribe,  108 ; mythical 
origin  of,  201  ; invades  China, 
201  ; captures  Peking  and  Nan- 
king, 201  ; treatment  of  Korean 
prisoners  by,  202 
Manchuria,  n ; plains  of,  57 
Manufactures,  Korean,  375,  376 
Market  at  Fung  Wang  Chang,  206 
Marriage  in  Korea,  42,  367 
Masampo,  harbour  of,  12 
Maubant,  Pierre  Philibert,  suc- 
ceeds Mgr.  Bruguiere,  263  ; 
crosses  frozen  river  Yalu,  263  ; 
description  of  journey  of,  263-4  > 
tortured  and  executed,  271 ; body 
of,  reinterred  by  converts,  271 
McLeavy  Brown,  Sir  J.,  357 ; ser- 
vices of,  to  Korea,  357 
Miidera,  temple  of,  150 


Military  system,  inferiority  of,  140 
Mimana,  64 ; Japanese  troops  in, 
100 

Mimi  Dzuka  or  Ear  Mound,  192 
Mineral  wealth  of  Korea,  373 
Ming  or  Bright  Dynasty  of  China, 
120  ; kindness  of,  to  Korea,  201 
Mining  forbidden,  373  ; state  of 
industry,  374 

Min  Yong  Ik,  ambassador  to 
United  States,  320 ; attack  on, 
322 

Missionaries,  Roman  Catholic, 
enter  Korea,  10 ; of  various 
creeds  enter  Korea,  292  ; Bud- 
dhist, in  Japan,  99 ; at  time  of 
annexation,  293 

Miura,  Viscount,  succeeds  Count 
Inouye  in  Korea,  335  ; con- 
spiracy with  Tai  Won  Kun, 
339  ; recall  of,  341 
Miyake  or  State  granar}’,  64 ; des- 
troyed by  Silla,  loi 

Nagasaki,  Dutch  trade  of,  197 
Nagoya,  149. 

Naktong  river,  14,  153 

Nam  Hau  group,  islands  of  the, 

13.  328 

Namwon,  garrisoned,  197;  taken 
by  Japanese,  187  ; garrison 
slaughtered,  187 

Napoleon  III.  protects  Roman 
Catholics,  235 
“ Nelson  of  Korea,"  137 
Newchwang,  treaty  port  of,  230 
Nihongi,  dates  in  the,  97 
Nishi-Rosen  convention,  346 
Nobunaga,  134 

"Northerners,”  political  party,  135 
Nyuchi  tribe,  108  ; combines  with 
Korea,  no 


396 


INDEX 


On  mun,  invention  of,  130  ; letter 
written  in,  13 1 
Opium  war,  273 

Oppert,  attempts  to  ascend  j 
River  Han,  230  ; makes  survey, 
230 ; second  attempt  made  by, 
231  ; draws  up  treaty,  231  ; 
book  on  Korea  by,  233  ; attempts 
to  open  royal  tomb,  233  ; evil 
influence  of,  234 

Oriental  Consolidated  Mining 
Company,  374 

Otomo,  Prince  of  Bungo,  173 

Pachiung,  Chinese  reach,  174 ; 
battle  of,  174 

Pagoda,  the  marble,  in  Seoul,  23 
Paik  Tu  mountain,  13 
Pak  Han,  fortress  of,  126 
Pak  Yong  Hyo,  238 
Palace,  attack  on,  339 ; fate  of 
defenders  of,  339 
Parkes,  Sir  Harry,  311 
Patriotism  sacrificed,  140 
Peasants,  degradation  of,  41 
Pekche  or  “ hundred  crossers,”  63 
Kijun  joins,  63  ; unites  with  Silla 
against  Korai,  69  ; declares  war 
on  Silla,  77  ; King  of,  weak,  78  ; 
fall  of  capital  of,  78 ; fate  of 
women  of  palace  of,  78  ; incor- 
porated in  Chinese  Empire,  79  ; 
attempts  to  recover  indepen- 
dence, 79  ; prays  Japan  for  help, 
79  ; people  of,  emigrate  to  Japan 
and  found  colonies,  80  ; date  of 
fall  of,  80 ; submits  to  Empress 
Jingo,  93  ; sends  tribute  to  Japan, 
96 ; King  of,  sends  image  of 
Buddha  to  Japan,  98  ; King  of, 
murdered,  loi 

Peking,  treaty  signed  at,  179  ; 


taking  of,  by  allies,  279  ; summer 
palace  of,  sacked,  279 
Persecution  of  Christians,  242-7  ; 

more  violent,  267 ; result  of,  272 
Petitnicholas  Michel  Alexandre, 
lands  in  Korea,  279 
Phyong  An,  province  of,  14 ; 
meaning  of  name,  i8  ; descrip- 
tion of,  18  ; battle  of,  in  1894, 
19  ; taking  of,  by  Japanese,  19  ; 
agricultural  and  mineral  wealth 
of,  20 ; planned  assault  of,  by 
Chinese,  72  ; feigned  submission 
of,  73  ; taken  by  Chinese  and 
Silla,  82  ; inhabitants  of,  fly  to 
Silla,  82  : beauty  of  women  of, 
83  ; Konishi  marches  on,  160 ; 
second  invasion  of,  by  Chinese, 
173 ; Presbyterian  Church  in, 

293 

Piek  I.,  meaning  of  name,  245  ; 
embraces  Christianity,  246  ; re- 
named Jean  Baptiste,  246  ; re- 
cantation of,  248  ; death  of,  248 
Pirates,  Japanese,  115-19;  driven 
from  Korean  coasts,  127 ; punish- 
ment of,  143 
Population,  366 
Portsmouth  Treaty,  353 
Port  Hamilton  occupied  by  British, 
328 

Pourthie,  Charles  Antoine,  lands 
in  Korea,  279 

Priests,  poverty  of,  in  Korea,  269  ; 

last  leave  Korea,  288 
Primorsk,  province  of,  1 1 
Progressionists,  321 ; animosity  of, 
towards  Min  Yong  Ik,  321  ; de- 
feated by  Conservatives,  323 
Prophecy  of  Korea’s  doom,  348 
Prosel}des  study  at  Macao,  274 
Providence,  H.M.S.,  225 


INDEX 


397 


Queen,  last,  of  Korea,  character  of, 
214  ; disappearance  of,  308  ; re- 
appearance, 313  ; meets  Euro- 
peans, 320 ; power  of,  338 ; 
murdered,  340 ; body  of,  burnt, 
340  ; successor  of,  359 
Queens  of  Silla,  84 
Quelpart,  Island  of,  10,  12,  219 

Race,  probable  origin  of,  28 ; 

characteristics  of,  29 
Railway,  first,  in  Korea,  22,  356 
Regents,  female,  212,  213,  254 
Ricci,  Jesuit  bishop,  founded 
mission  in  Peking,  243  ; respect 
of  Chinese  for,  243  ; death  of, 
244 ; book  by,  sent  to  Korea, 
244 ; condones  ancestor  wor- 
ship, 250 

Ri-Chosen,  inventor  of  cannon, 
164 

Ridel,  Roman  Catholic  priest  in 
Korea,  285 
Rivers  of  Korea,  14 
Royal  seal,  213 

Roze,  Admiral,  French  Com- 
mander-in-chief, naval  expedi- 
tion, 281 

Russians,  obtain  Usuki  territory 
from  China,  280  ; demand  right 
to  trade,  281 

Sadahiko,  general,  attacks  Korai, 

lOI 

Sakai,  Chinese  ambassadors  land 
at,  180 

Sakyamuni,  image  of  Budda  made 
by,  98 

Samarang,  H.M.S.,  226 
Samurai,  anger  of,  against  Korea, 
229 ; demand  war  with  Korea, 
300 


Schools  founded,  355 
Se  Jong,  129;  invents  alphabet, 
130 

Seng-houng-I,  first  Korean  con- 
verted to  Christianity,  246  ; re- 
named Pierre,  246 ; recantation 
and  death  of,  248 
Seoul,  position  of,  14  ; alteration 
in,  22  ; walls  and  gates  of,  22  ; 
casting  of  bell  of,  22  ; power  of 
Tai  won  Kun,  23  ; likened  to 
a laundry,  49 ; ancient  name 
of,  12  ; eight  gateways  of,  126  ; 
occupation  of,  by  Japanese,  157 
Serfs,  emancipation  of,  210 
Shimonoseki,  peace  of,  333 
Shin-han,  position  of,  62 
Shinra,  explanation  of  term,  63  ; 

change  of  name,  63 
Shin-ten-rai,  a cannon  devised  by 
Korean,  164 

Shipwrecked  Dutch  sailors,  218  ; 
attempt  to  escape,  221  ; punish- 
ment of,  221  ; detained  in  Korea, 
222  ; stories  of,  222  ; escape  to 
Japan, 224 
Silk,  raw,  370 

Silla,  foundation  of,  63  ; increase 
in  power  of,  69 ; unites  with 
Pekche  against  Korai,  69  ; be- 
comes military  power,  75 ; 
appeals  to  China  for  help,  77  ; 
answer  to  appeal,  78  ; invades 
Korai,  81 ; takes  up  arms  against 
China,  84  ; defeat  of,  84  ; Queen 
of,  likened  to  Katherine  of  Russia, 
84 ; weakness  of  Government 
of,  85  ; decline  of  87  ; capital 
of,  attacked  by  Kyun  Wun  and 
king  killed,  87 ; parallel  drawn 
between  royal  house  of,  and 
last  king  of  present-day  Korea, 


398 


INDEX 


88 ; communicates  with  Japan, 
90  ; Prince  of,  marries  Japanese 
lady,  gi  ; king  submits  to  Em- 
press Jingo,  92  ; sends  tribute  to 
Japan,  96  ; seizes  treasures  of 
Pekche  intended  for  Japan,  97  ; 
defeats  Japanese  army,  loi 
Sochon,  battle  of,  190 
So,  prince  of  Tsushima,  199 
“Southerners,”  135 
Sparrowhawk,  wreck  of,  218 ; 
plundering  of,  219  ; kind  treat- 
ment of  survivors  of  wreck  of, 
219 

Stones,  throwing  of,  in  Korea,  310 
Sujin,  Emperor,  90 
Sungari  River,  57,  108 
Sunjo,  King,  253 ; persecution  of 
Christians  in  reign  of,  253 ; 
death  of,  254 

Sunto,  ancient  capital,  20  ; Court 
of,  1 14;  no  longer  the  capital, 
124 

Swi,  Emperor,  brings  whole  of 
China  under  his  sway,  68 ; fall 
of  dynasty,  74 

Taijo,  Yi,  king  divides  Korea  into 
eight  circuits,  17  ; acclaimed  as 
king,  122 ; founder  of  a new 
dynasty,  123  ; establishes  capital 
at  Seoul,  124;  changes  name  of 
kingdom,  125  ; abdication,  128 
Taijong  invents  copper  types,  128, 
129  ; successors  to,  129 
Tai-han,  Korea  named,  344 
Tai  Won  Kun,  214 ; forced  to 
retire,  215;  not  unfavourably  dis- 
posed to  Christians,  280 ; out  of 
office,  308 ; hatred  of,  to 
foreigners,  308 ; hatred  of,  to 
Queen,  308  ; deported  to  China, 


313 ; returns  to  Korea,  327 ; 
grandson  imprisoned,  338  ; con- 
spiracy with  Japanese,  339 
Talha,  King  of  Silla,  345 
Tang,  dynasty  of,  74 ; policy  of, 
74  ; close  of,  85 

Tan  gun,  descent  of,  to  earth,  50 
Tatong  River,  14,  18 ; negotia- 
tions at,  161  ; Japanese  fleet 
almost  destroyed  at,  170 ; 
U.  S.  S.  Sherman  lost  in,  230 
Taxation,  limit  of,  40  ; influence  on 
Korean  character,  40 
Three  Kingdoms,  History  of,  65 
Tides,  violent,  13 
Tientsin,  massacre  of,  229 ; reason 
assigned  for  massacre  of,  240 ; 
agreement  signed  at,  326 
Tigers  in  Korea,  15,  16 
Tobacco,  use  of,  in  Japan,  192 
Tokugawa  Shoguns,  196 ; resign 
authority,  296 

Tomb,  result  of  attempt  to  exca- 
vate royal,  233 
Tong  Haks,  society,  331 
Tongnai,  fortress  of,  taken  by 
Honishi,  153 

Tortures,  description  of,  270 
Trade,  increase  in,  328 
Treaty  first  with  Japan,  302;  British 
treaty,  315,  316  ; of  Alliance  be- 
tween Great  Britain  and  Japan, 
353 

Tribute  paid  to  China  and  Japan, 
296 

Troops,  English  and  French,  in 
Japan,  235 ; reason  for  with- 
drawal of,  from  Yokohama,  236 ; 
mutiny  of  Korean,  308 
Tsiou,  work  of,  in  Korea,  252  ; first 
Christian  priest,  252 ; escapes 
to  Aichiu,  254  ; returns  to  Seonl, 


INDEX 


399 


254  ; martyrdom  of,  255  ; death 
of,  reported  to  China,  256. 

Tsoi,  proselyte,  return  from  Macao 
to  Korea,  277 ; interprets  for 
French  officers,  278 
Tumen  River,  ii,  108 
Tung  Ming,  miraculous  birth  of, 
58  ; founder  of  Puyu,  58 
Tyung  Chin,  town  of,  154;  battle 

of.  155 

United  States,  naval  expedition  to 
Korea,  237 ; result  of,  240 ; 
minister’s  wife  received  by 
Queen,  316 ; remonstrance 
against  Russian  oppression,  348 
Unsan,  goldmine,  374 
Unyo  Kwan,  Japanese  gunboat, 
fired  on  by  Korean  fort,  299  ; 
shells  fort  at  Mouth  of  River 
Han,  300  ; landing  party  storms 
and  takes  fort,  300 

Variag,  Russian  cruiser,  fight  with 
Japanese,  21 
Vendetta,  138 

Victorieuse,  French  frigate, 
grounds  on  Korean  coast,  226  ; 
rescue  of  crew  by  English  ship, 
227 

Wang  Kien,  general  of  Kung  I, 
85 ; greatness  of,  85 
conquers  provinces  of  Kang 
Won  and  Kyong  Kwai,  86 ; 
proclaimed  King  of  the  North 
after  Kung  I,  87  ; recognised  as 
king  by  China,  104  ; introduces 
examination  of  candidates  for 
civil  posts,  104  ; death  of,  105  ; 
followers  of,  105  ; end  of  dynasty 
of,  122 


Wang,  title  of,  304 
Wani,  teacher  of  writing,  arrives 
in  Japan  from  Pekche,  97 
“Westerners,”  political  party,  135  ; 

subdivision  of,  139 
Wetteree,  John,  Dutch  sailor, 
prisoner  in  Korea  for  twenty- 
seven  years,  220 ; fate  not  known, 
225 

White  cock,  emblem  of  Korea,  345 
Widows  in  Korea,  45 
Women,  subjection,  in  Korea,  41, 
42  ; marriage,  42  ; seclusion,  46  ; 
education,  47  ; appearance,  48  ; 
under  Mongol  rule,  114;  present 
day,  48 

Won  Kiun,  Admiral,  185 ; in- 
efficiency of,  185  ; defeat  of,  186 ; 
flogged,  186  ; taken  by  Japanese, 
186 

Writing,  introduction  of,  95 

Xavier,  St.  Francis,  148 

Yalu  River,  1 1 ; name  given  to,  by 
Koreans,  14  ; freezing  of,  27  ; 
forests  in  valley  of,  346 
Yamato,  228 

Yamagata-Lobanoff  convention, 

346 

Yang,  Emperor  of  China,  cruelty 
of,  70  ; plans  invasion  of  Korai, 

71 

Yang  ban  or  nobles  of  Korea,  32, 
33  ; meaning  of  word,  32;  com- 
parison of,  with  English  nobility, 
32  ; privileges  of  the,  34,  36  ; 
occupations  of,  35 ; compared 
with  Irish  landlords,  35 ; legal 
rights  of,  36  ; appearance  of,  36  ; 
political  parties  of,  37 ; tenure 
of  office  by,  37  ; poverty  of,  38 


400 


INDEX 


Yang-Ti,  Emperor  of  Swi  dynasty, 
sends  envoys  to  Japan,  103 ; 
encourages  learning,  103 

Yin  dynasty  of  China,  fall  of, 

51 

Yi  Sun,  Admiral,  168  ; reconstructs 
fleet  and  builds  ironclad,  168 ; 
deprived  of  his  command,  185  ; 
restored  to  flag  rank,  189  ; wins 
goodwill  of  Chinese  admiral, 
191 ; death  of,  191 

Yi  Taijo,  see  Taijo. 

Yolsan,  town  of,  188 ; Japanese 
besieged  at,  189 

Yong  Ampho,  Russian  settlement 
at,  347 

Yoshitoki,  lord  of  Tsushima,. 


envoy  to  Korea,  143  ; negotiates 
with  Ri  Toku  Kei,  161 
Yu,  Pere  Pacifique,  262 ; abuses  his 
sacred  office,  264  ; threat  of  ex- 
communication,  264 
Yuen,  Li  Hung  Chang’s  deputy, 
de  facto  King  of  Korea, 

Yu  Ku,  grandson  of  Wiman,  53  ; 
embassy  to  China,  54 ; attacks 
Liao-Tung,  54 ; Chinese  Em- 
peror sends  armies  against,  54 ; 
second  embassy,  54  ; murder  of, 

56 

Yung  Jong,  distinguished  for  re- 
forms, 209 ; prohibits  intoxicat- 
ing drinks,  210;  murders  his 
son,  21 1 


UNWIN  BROTHERS,  LIMITED,  THE  GRESHAM  PRESS,  WOKIKG  AND  LONDON. 


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